"Put them away and don't you dare to load them until you are at least a mile from here."
"Look here, what are you doing?" cried Chunky.
"I am returning his property," answered Tad.
"Here I go and draw the animal's fangs, then you go stick them back again! Why, he'll be shooting at us before he gets out of sight," protested the fat boy.
"I wouldn't turn a man into this swamp unarmed, Stacy. It might be sending him to his death."
"Serve him right," grunted young Brown.
"Chunky, I am amazed at you," rebuked Tad.
In the meantime the stranger with a look of puzzled amazement on his face was stowing away his weapons, gazing perplexedly at Tad Butler.
"Now, my man, I don't know who you are; I don't care who you are. But I hope you will have learned a lesson and that you will leave us alone after this. Do you know Bill Lilly?"
The stranger flushed again. Tad saw that the fellow did.