"Now, lie still, you, unless you want to get hurt!" Elmer exclaimed; and being by this time of the opinion that he had run up against a buzz-saw in action, the panting and defeated plotter gave in.
The clamor had for the most part ceased. Only Nat seemed to be doing an Indian war dance around his prostrate foeman and shaking his fist every little while in the fellow's face.
"Don't hit me!" yelled the alarmed one. "I'm all in, don't you see? I cave! I'm a prisoner, and scouts don't dare hit a defenseless fellow, do they?"
"Aw, you make me think of a coward that would hide behind a woman's skirts!" declared Nat, in disgust, because his enjoyment had been so suddenly cut short by the collapse of his opponent. "Why don't you stand up and take your medicine like a little man? Just because I belong to the scouts I ain't allowed to hand you what you'd give me if you had the upper hand. It's tough, that's what."
Possibly Nat might have been tempted beyond his powers of resistance but for the fact of the patrol leader's presence.
"Hold up there, Nat, Toby, Lil Artha!" called out Elmer just then. "How is the world treating you, fellows?"
"All to the good here," chuckled Toby, who was still clinging to the back of his capture and showed no inclination to let go.
"My pig looks like thirty cents!" said the tall scout who, left to himself, had speedily reduced his opponent.
"And mine is on the blink, too," declared Nat.
"Shucks, I ain't had hardly a mite of fun out of it all! He laid down on me, that's what he did, Elmer."