"The lock-up."
"Never!" The big bully drew back. "You let me alone."
Dick caught hold of Baxter once more, but now the bully hauled off and hit him a stinging blow on the chin. The eldest Rover retaliated by a blow that blackened the bully's left eye. Then they clinched and rolled on the ground.
"Hi, what's the matter here?" called out a planter, running up at this moment.
"He is a thief!" cried Dan Baxter. "Take him off of me!"
"A thief, eh?" said the planter, and he caught Dick by the arm. "Come, let him up, you rascal!"
He was a powerful man, and hauled Dick back with ease. In a trice
Dan Baxter scrambled up and drew back a few paces.
"I'll get an officer," he called out, and ran off, to disappear down an alleyway between a group of negro shanties.
"Come after him," said Dick. "He is the real thief. You have blundered."
"You can't fool me, suh," said the planter firmly.—