Dick Halliard had good cause for his misgivings. There was an individual among the shadow of the trees, waiting, like a spider, for a victim to come within his net.
At the moment of gliding into the shadow the youth saw him. He was standing in the middle of the road, directly in his path.
“Out of the way, or I’ll run you down!” shouted Dick, aiming apparently at him, but making a sharp turn to the left.
“Try it, if you dare!” called the stranger in a gruff voice.
“What do you want?” demanded Dick, bending all his efforts to the task of flanking the fellow.
“I want you!” was the startling reply; “get down off of that wheel before I fetch you down!”
Whoever the fellow was he kept in Dick’s path so persistently, that despite all he could do he could not prevent a collision. The bicycle fell with a resounding bang on its side, and the rider was compelled to make a dexterous leap to save himself from going down with it.
One of the most noticeable traits about the sinewy Dick was his quickness of resource and presence of mind. While he suspected the identity of the party who had thus stopped him, he was in doubt until the last words were spoken. Then the young man in his excitement forgot to disguise his tones. It was Bob Budd, who had taken this occasion to carry out the threat he had made so often in the presence of others.
Dick could not believe the bully meant to use any weapon, but intended simply to chastise him. He meant to give the boy an unmerciful beating.
It was this certainty that inspired Dick to assail him with all the energy at his command.