"Well, it's fortunate you didn't use 'em, Stubbs," said Hal. "If you had shot me and I had found it out, I'd have had to lay you across my knee."
"You would, eh?" grumbled Stubbs. "I guess you would find that quite a job."
"Come, come, Stubbs," said Chester: "and you, too, Hal. We're in a ticklish position and there is no time for foolishness. What are you doing here, Stubbs?"
"Well," said Stubbs, "I'll tell you; but as you'll have to spend the night here, make yourselves comfortable. Sit down."
CHAPTER IV
CHESTER IS INDISCREET
"First," Stubbs began, when the boys had pulled their chairs close to his bed and he had propped himself up with a pair of pillows, "first I want to know what you mean, Chester, by jumping me the way you did a few minutes ago?"
"Well," said Chester, "you had a pair of guns wabbling in your hands and I was afraid one might accidentally go off. Safety first, Mr. Stubbs."
"That sounds all right," was Stubbs' dry comment, "or rather, I should say, it would sound all right if I didn't know you so well. It's my candid opinion you just jumped me because a good opportunity presented itself."
"Come, Mr. Stubbs," said Chester, "you know I wouldn't——"