“Hit him! hit him!” howled the boys, as they saw their leader strike wildly past the head of the nimble stranger.
“Methinks the gentle dub with the crooked eye got a severe jolt in the bread-basket that time,” observed Jack Ready.
The bully’s left eye had a cast in it.
“Drat ye!” gulped the fellow, as he tried to follow Dick up. “Just keep still an’ I will——”
He did not say what he’d do; for again they closed, and this time the youthful thug received a smash on the jaw that made his head ring. He was astounded, for he had not fancied the slender lad could strike such a heavy blow. Not only was he surprised, but he was doubly enraged and from his lips came a roar of rage.
Then the ruffian jumped at Dick in his fiercest manner, his fists flying out and his arms thrashing the air. From his lips rolled a torrent of profanity and foul language.
With perfect self-command, which amused and satisfied Frank, Dick avoided the rushes of the thug and struck him heavily several times. In a very few seconds these blows drew blood.
The boys who had followed the ruffian looked on in amazement. They could hardly believe the evidence of their eyes, for all of them had regarded “Squinty” Jim as a fighter of great ability, and he had lorded it over them in a high-handed manner.
“Squinty’s gettin’ licked!” one of them finally cried, as if he could hardly believe it himself.