“What’s the row in here?” demanded Dick Merriwell.
Buzzsaw Stover gathered himself up from the corner into which he had spun from the hand of Merriwell.
“We caught that dirty old wolf cheating!” he howled hoarsely. “He substituted a card from a pack of his own.”
“Ugh!” grunted old Joe once more. “You cheat. You put up one, two, three, and some more little job on old Crowfoot. You think he not see? You think he no have eyes? He see you monkey with pasteboards. He see other man pass you card under table. He see you try to swipe stack of money from him. Cheat? You biggest blame thief on two legs!”
“It’s a lie!” panted Stover. “I’ll choke the breath out of the old robber! Come on, fellows! Going to let these two kids come in here and bluff us?”
His companions answered with vicious cries, and, following his example, proceeded to attack the intruders.
During the next few moments there were lively times in that room. If those Outlaws fancied that by superior strength and overwhelming numbers they were going to have a snap with their opponents, they fooled themselves to the limit. Young Joe Crowfoot could use his fists with all the skill of a finished boxer; and, side by side with Merriwell, he took care of his share of the assailants. Gentle Willie Touch got a punch in the wind that promptly put him hors de combat, and Warwhoop Clinker was given a thump on the bugle that nearly drove his proboscis back into his face.
Meanwhile, South-paw Pope had “got his” from Dick, and once more Merriwell reached for Buzzsaw’s jaw and found it. Stover dropped into the same corner from which he had lately emerged and sat very limp and dazed, prevented from keeling over by the angle of the partitions.
While this was taking place old Joe Crowfoot calmly proceeded to rake his own money off the table and take possession of the big jack pot which had brought about the clash. The money piled in front of the chairs at which the Indian’s associates in the game had sat was left untouched.
“Now we puckachee,” said old Joe; “we vamoose. We make a sneak.”