"I have expressed myself! You cannot mistake my meaning, sir!"
Thornton whipped out a handkerchief and wiped the liquid from his eyes. Then he dropped the handkerchief, and caught up a wine-bottle, with which weapon he leaped at Jack.
Parker caught Thornton's uplifted arm just in time to keep him from trying to break the bottle over Diamond's head.
"Do you want to kill him?" exclaimed Puss, excitedly.
"Yes," snarled Thornton, "I will kill him!"
"Pray do not interfere with the fellow, Mr. Parker," urged Jack, his voice shaking with passion. "I will take care of myself."
"You'd better get out of here!" came fiercely from Parker. "You have no business here!"
"I have business in any place where I am lied about and insulted, sir! Let him alone, and I will agree to give him all the fight he desires!"
Now, for the first time, Fred Flemming stepped forward. He was a big fellow, and was known to be a fierce fighter, with the inclinations of a bully.