"I repeat, you are mistaken."
"I am not mistaken, and can prove my assertion by half a dozen persons."
"I have not been near Africa."
"I won't argue the point with you. Do you surrender or not?"
"Yes, I will surrender," replied Josiah Crabtree meekly.
Yet he did not mean what he said, and as Dick came closer he gave the lad a violent shove backward, which made the elder Rover boy sit down in an easy chair rather suddenly. Then he darted into a small conservatory attached to the sitting room.
"Stop!" panted Dick, catching his breath.
"Tom, he is running away!"
Crash! jingle! jingle! jingle! Josiah Crabtree had tried the door to the conservatory and finding it locked and the key gone, had smashed out some of the glass and leaped through the opening thus afforded.
By this time Dora was coming downstairs, clad in a wrapper and carrying a lamp in her hand. The first person she met was Tom, who staggered into the hall with his hand to his bruised forehead.