Then, declining assistance, she hurried up the stairs.
CHAPTER IV—THE CHALLENGE
The final words of Sarah Ann ere she pranced up the stairs did much to revive the professor and the major. They sat up and looked at each other. The expression on their faces was comical in the extreme.
“She meant you, sir!” rasped Gunn.
“She meant yo’, suh!” snapped Fitts.
“I think she plainly included both of you,” said Dick; “and I fancy it is the opinion of all present that she hit the nail on the head.”
“I don’t know about the nail,” groaned Zenas; “but I’m sure something hit me on the head. And that woman—that heartless jade—sat on me! She nearly finished me!”
“Had she completed the job,” declared the major, “it would have been a blessing, suh. It would have disposed of a pestiferous, weak-minded, addle-pated, goggle-eyed——”
“Hold on! Stop right there!” cried Zenas. “That will do! You have reached the limit, sir—the limit!”
“Yo’ may think so, suh; but yo’ll find this is far from the limit. I am a man of honor, and I demand satisfaction. I demand blood!”