"Hey, you stop that, or I"ll make you wish you had!" roared the fellow, shaking his fist.
Harry"s answer was to drive two more stones in, sending them close to the fellow, yet without hitting him.
Again the man shouted at him, though he did not attempt to come any nearer to so expert a thrower of stones.
Then, suddenly, just behind him, Harry Hazelton heard a sound.
In the next instant two men hurled themselves upon the young engineer, pinning him to the ground.
"I ought to have suspected this!" grunted Harry inwardly, as he fought back with all his strength. He might have succeeded in slipping away from the two men who sought to pin him down, but the third man, still aching from contact with Harry"s missiles, now darted into the scrimmage, striking several hard blows. Harry was presently conquered and tied.
"Take the cub to his own camp!" sounded the exultant voice of Dolph Gage. "With one of the pair tied, it won"t be hard to handle the other whenever he happens along."
CHAPTER X
TOM"S FIGHTING BLOOD SURGES
"Take another hitch of rope around that young steer," Dolph ordered, after he had flung Harry violently to the ground.
"He wont get away as he is," replied one of the other two men.
"Maybe not, but take an extra roping, as I told you," was Gage"s tart retort.
So another length of line was pa.s.sed around Hazelton, until he felt as though he had been done up in network.
"Now; we"ll give your partner a chance to show up," muttered Gage, throwing himself on the ground. "You young fellers will have to learn the lesson that you"re thirty miles from anywhere, and that we rule matters around here. We"re going to keep on ruling, too, in this strip of Nevada."
"Are you?" grimaced Hazelton. "Then, my friend, allow me to tell you that you are making the mistake of trying to reckon without Tom Reade!"
"Is that your partner"s name?" jeered Dolph Gage. "A likely enough boy, from what I"ve heard of him. But he isn"t old enough to understand Nevada ways."
"No, perhaps not," Harry admitted ironically. "So far Tom has gotten his training only in Colorado and in Arizona. I begin to realize that he isn"t bright enough to have his own way among the bright men of Nevada. But Reade learns rapidly---don"t forget that!"
"Huh!" growled Gage. "The young cub seems to think that he has come out here to take charge of the Range. According to his idea he has only to pick out what he wanted here; and take it. He never seems to understand that gold belongs to the first man who finds it. I was on this Range long before Reade was out of school."
"And he doesn"t object to your staying here," remarked Hazelton calmly.
"That"s good of him, I"m sure," snapped Gage. "I"ve no objection to his staying here, either. Fact is, I"m going to encourage both of you to stay here."
"Encourage us?" grinned Harry.
"Well, then, I"m going to make you stay here, if you like that word any better."
"That will be more difficult," suggested Hazelton.
"First of all, we"re going to tote your a.s.say outfit over to our camp. You won"t be able to do much without that. Look around a bit, Eb," added Dolph, turning to one of his companions. "Perhaps you"d better get the furnace out first. Two of you can carry it. I wish we had our other man back from Dugout. We need hands here."
"Can"t you use some of my muscle in helping you to loot our camp?"
suggested Hazelton, ironically. "I"m fairly strong, you know."
"Yes; I know you are. That"s why we"ve tied you up," growled Gage.
The man addressed as Eb had taken the other fellow aside, and they were now lifting the a.s.say furnace in order to decide how heavy it was.
"It doesn"t weigh much over a hundred and fifty pounds," called out Dolph Gage. "Two men like you can get it over to camp. And bring over our guns, too. It was a mistake to leave "em over in camp."
Gage watched until the pair were out of sight among the trees.
"Hurry, you men!" Gage roared after them.
Then he started in to nose around the camp.
As he pa.s.sed a clump of bushes there was a slight stir among them.
Then Tom Reade leaped forth.
In a twinkling Dolph Gage had been caught up. He was in the grip of a strong, trained football player.
"Drop me!" ordered Gage, with a slight quiver in his voice.
"I"m going to," agreed Tom, hurling the fellow fully a dozen feet.
With an oath Gage leaped to his feet. Before he was fairly Tom Reade"s fist caught him in the left eye, sending him to earth once more.
"Is that the way you fight, you young cub?" roared Gage hoa.r.s.ely.
"I can fight harder if you want me to," Tom retorted, as the other again got to his feet. "Now, put your hands up, and I"ll show you."
Tom went at it hammer and tongs. He was a splendidly built young athlete, and boxing was one of his strong points, though he rarely allowed himself to get into a fight. Indeed, his usually abounding good nature made all fighting disagreeable to him. Now, however, he drove in as though Dolph Gage were a punching-bag.
"Stand up, man, and fight as though you had some sand in you!" Tom ordered. "Get up steam, and defend yourself."
"I have had enough," Gage gasped. Indeed, his face looked as though he had.
"Are you a baby?" Reade demanded contemptuously. "Can"t you fight with anything but your tongue!"
"You wait and I"ll show you," snarled the badly battered man.
"What"s the need of waiting?" Tom jeered, and swung in another blow that sent Gage to the ground.
"Eh! Josh!" bellowed Gage, with all the breath he had left.
"Hustle o-o-o-over here!"
"Let "em come!" vaunted Reade. "You"ll be done for long before they can get here."
"I"ll have you killed when they get here with the guns!" cried Gage hoa.r.s.ely.