“Do you think we have fifty dollars with us?” cried Andy. “Why, I haven’t but eighty cents.”
“And I have sixty-five cents,” said Pepper.
“I’ve got two dollars and a quarter,” put in Jack. “But I am not going to give it to you,” he added, with spirit.
“Humph! Then you can stay in the tree.”
“We shan’t do that either,” said Pepper. “Call off those dogs and be quick about it. I am coming down, and if your dogs attack me, you’ll go to prison for it.”
“That’s the talk,” said Jack. “Call off the dogs, quick! Here I come!” And he started to drop down.
The horse-dealer was a good deal of a brute, but he was likewise a coward, and he did not dare to allow his dogs to attack the boys. As they came down out of the tree, he whistled to the bulldogs and they crouched behind him.
“Suppose you think you’re smart,” he growled.
“We are standing up for our rights, that is all,” answered Jack. “Now we are going on our way. If those dogs come after us again, I’ll get Captain Putnam to have you locked up for allowing such brutes at liberty.”
“Oh, go to grass!” grumbled Sam Haverick, and strode off, with his dogs following him.