"At last I've got you just where I want you, Len Molick!" Dave cried. "Maybe I can't prove you sawed the fence posts, but I don't need any more evidence than I've just had of what you were going to do. I've got you!"
"You—you let me alone!" whimpered Len, who was a coward, as most bullies are.
"I will, when I've finished," said Dave, laying aside his coat.
"What are you going to do?" asked Len, who had straightened up, after having been rolled on the ground by Dave.
"What am I going to do? I'm going to give you the best drubbing you ever had. Stand up and fight now, you big coward!"
CHAPTER XIII
SOME NEWS
Perhaps if Len had done the manly thing—if he had owned to some of his misdeeds, and had promised not to repeat them, Dave might have forgiven him. For Dave was not a fighter by nature.
Physically the two were well matched, with the advantage, if any, in favor of Len, who was larger than Dave. And if Len had acknowledged that he was afraid to fight, Dave would not have pressed it.
But the bully and coward made the mistake of his life. As he sprang to his feet he caught up a stone and suddenly hurled it at Dave. The latter ducked just in time to save his head. And then his anger welled up.