“You have your answer, fellow,” hissed the girl’s escort. “Let us pass.”
“No!” came firmly from the lips of the American boy. “Not till I know the reason for this! It is unjust and unkind, and I feel that an explanation is due me.”
“You do?”
“Yes.”
“Well, you will not get it!”
Swish! the whip in the hand of the stranger cut through the air. He had aimed the blow at Frank’s horse, but the Yankee lad caught the whip with a lightning movement, and snatched it from the hand of the owner.
“Two may play at that game,” he half laughed. “With my compliments!”
Once more the whip cut the air.
Frank aimed the blow at the fellow’s shoulders, but Inza’s escort flung up his arm to ward off the blow, so that he received the lash fairly across the face, where it left a livid welt.
The sound of the whip frightened the girl’s horse, and the animal sprang away, despite her efforts to hold it in check.