"Oh, golly!" cried the boy. "What you doin’ up there—hung yourself out to dry?"
"You saucy monkey!" shouted Scudder. "Don’t you dare talk to me that way! Oh, my trousers are tearing—oh! oh!"
"Oh! oh!" whooped the boy, in delight and derision. "You’ll be off in a minute!"
"Please take that dog away!" begged Scudder. "He’ll pounce on me the minute I drop! He’ll bite me!"
"If he does," said the youngster with the gun. "It’ll p’isen him, and then you’ll have to pay damages."
"You young wretch! Don’t you see I’m in danger? Why don’t you do something to help me? Do you want to see me killed? Do you want to see me chewed up by that beast?"
"Perhaps I do," carelessly answered the boy, without a sign of sympathy.
"Why, you heartless young brute! You ought to be——"
"Now, don’t you go to callin’ too many names!" exclaimed the lad. "If you do, you’ll wish you hadn’t. I’ve seen you before, an’ I ain’t forgot about it, either. I made up my mind I’d remember you, and I have. I guess you know what happened the last time we saw each other?"
"I don’t remember anything about it. Can’t you climb up here and help me somehow? I’ll pay you for it. I’ll——"