"Thrashing!" gasped Crabtree.
"Yes, thrashing," replied Dick. "If we were in America I would have you locked up. But out here we must take the law into our own hands. I am going to thrash you to the very best of my ability, and after that, if I meet you again I'll—I'll—"
"Dun shoot him on sight," suggested Aleck.
"You shall not touch me!" said the former teacher with a shiver. "Chester—Rand—will you not aid me against this—er—savage young brute?"
"Don't you call Dick a brute," put in Sam.
"If there is any brute here it is you, and everyone in our party will back up what I say."
"Mr. Crabtree, I have nothing to say in this matter," said Dick Chester. "It would seem that your attack on Rover was a most atrocious one, and out here you will have to take what punishment comes."
"But you will help me, won't you, Rand?" pleaded the former teacher, nervously.
"No, I shall stand by Chester," answered Rand.
"And will you, too, see me humiliated?" asked Crabtree, turning to the other Yale students. "I, the head of your expedition into equatorial Africa!"