“I—er—I didn’t—er—see you!” gasped Pepper. The wind had been knocked completely out of him by the unexpected contact with camera, tripod, and owner.
“It’s false!” cried the bully. “You couldn’t help seeing me! It’s all a bluff!”
“You—er—you’re mistaken,” panted Pepper, and started to rise, when the bully caught him by the collar and pulled him flat again.
“Let go of me, Dan Baxter!”
“I’ll not! I am going to teach you a good lesson!”
“Hi! hi! What’s this?” exclaimed Jack, skating closer. “Let go of him, Baxter.”
“Why should I?”
“He isn’t to blame,” put in Andy.
“Sure, an’ that’s the truth av it,” broke in Emerald. “We all had a hand, so we did!”
“We were playing snap-the-whip,” explained Dale. “You must have seen us.”