“Give it to him!” urged Joe, who seemed anxious to “get even” with the youth who had handled him so easily. “He’s a dodger! Look out for him!”
“He won’t be able to do no dodgin’ when I’m done with him,” declared the vicious cowboy.
“Mr. Sawyer,” said Frank, speaking in a cool manner to the local stage manager, “please hold the door wide open, so I can throw this ruffian downstairs without trouble.”
Sam Hooker gasped.
“Do my ears hear straight?” he gasped. “Throw me downstairs! What—that? Waal, may I be jiggered!”
Then, with a roar, he made a leap at Frank.
CHAPTER XIV.
THE DOWNFALL OF SAM HOOKER.
To the astonishment of Joe Hooker, Frank Merriwell did not attempt to dodge. Instead, with a sweep of one arm, he knocked Sam Hooker’s hands aside, and then planted a blow on the cowboy’s chin. It was a swinging uppercut, and it literally lifted the ruffian off his feet.
The head and shoulders of the man struck the floor before any other part of his body. Barely had he dropped when the young actor was on him, grasping him by the collar and slack of his trousers. With a jerk, Frank brought the man up, ran him to the door, and gave him a thrust. Then, at the very head of the flight of stairs, Merry lifted Sam Hooker with a terrible kick.
The man actually seemed to turn over and over in the air, and he struck at the bottom of the stairs with a thud that shook the building.