The helpless youth turned chalky white with fear.
“Don’t strike!” he gasped.
“Why not?” demanded the other, quivering with the excitement of the encounter.
“You’ll kill me!”
“Just as you tried to kill me when I lay on the floor helpless and unarmed, you cowardly sneak!”
“I didn’t mean to——”
“Don’t lie! If you lie, I’ll be tempted to finish you off anyhow!”
“I was crazy!”
“Well, I’m rather excited myself! Why, it would be a mercy to puncture you now! You are a miserable, crawling snake, and you’ve tried to kill the best man that ever lived!”
“No! no!”