CHAPTER XXIX
AN EXCITING TIME ALL AROUND
"We've got him! Down with him!" roared Sack Todd, as he leaped over the fallen door and made a grab for Dick.
For the instant Dick did not know what to do, then he stepped backward and at the same time attempted to draw his pistol.
"No, you don't!" yelled Gasper Pold, and aimed a blow at Dick's head with an iron bar he carried.
Had the blow landed as intended, the eldest Rover might have had his skull crushed in. But as the iron bar was descending Dan Baxter made a quick jump to Pold's side, gave him a shove and hurled him flat.
"Stop it!" cried the former bully of Putnam Hall. "Do you hear? Do you want to kill somebody?"
"So you're against us, eh?" yelled Sack Todd. "Well, we'll fix you!"
He tore a pistol from his pocket and started to aim it at Baxter. But the latter was now on the alert and, whirling around, he caught Sack Todd by the coat collar with one hand and with the other raised the pistol up into the air. It went off, but the bullet merely plowed its way into the woodwork of the ship.
By this time Hans had managed to scramble from beneath the fallen door. The German youth had not been hurt very much but his "Dutch blood" was up, and throwing prudence to the wind he sailed in vigorously, hitting Pold a blow in the stomach with his fist, and kicking the mate of the Dogstar in the shin with his heavy shoe. Then he caught hold of Pold's iron bar and began to wrestle for its possession.