“I guess that’s enough,” said Dick, “but if you are not satisfied I’ll wait.”
“I’m not through with you yet,” replied Bob, who was now in a white heat of anger; so much so indeed that he hastily drew the loaded revolver that he carried at all times. He had lost his self-command and was determined to punish Dick Halliard, who had turned the tables upon him with such vengeance.
CHAPTER XX—THE BAYING OF A HOUND
Dick Halliard caught the gleam of the pistol in the hands of the enraged Bob Budd, but before he could bring it into play the younger lifted up his bicycle, ran it swiftly a few paces, sprang up behind, and set his legs to work with desperate energy.
As he did so he remembered he was still in danger. He leaned as far ahead as he could, like a frontier scout trying to avoid the shots of a party of Indians. It was well he took the precaution, for Bob was so beside himself with wrath that he deliberately pointed the weapon at the fast-disappearing fugitive, and let fly with three chambers as fast as he could discharge them. It was not his fault that the bullets sped wide of the mark, for he tried hard to hit the lad that had handled him so roughly.
Dick glanced over his shoulder, and as he caught sight of the dim figure in the moonlight he said, with a smile:
“Bob wouldn’t have used his pistol if he wasn’t beside himself with rage; any way, I think he and the rest of them will let me alone after this.”
Bob Budd stood a full minute after the bicyclist vanished in the gloom. By that time his anger gave way to a feeling of alarm, as he reflected on what he had done, or rather tried to do.
He had stopped Dick Halliard on the highway; he had attacked him without cause, and when he was fleeing had discharged his pistol at him, doing so with the intention of hitting him with each cartridge. If Dick chose to prosecute him, what could keep him out of State prison?
The thought was a startling one, and did not contribute to the Ranger’s comfort as he picked his way homeward, where, after a time, he was joined by Jim McGovern, returning from his equally marked failure to “even up” matters with Dick Halliard.