Besides, Nature had made him so ugly that when he scowled it was enough to send a shiver down the spinal column of most boys.
Darry came to a pause. Indeed, he could not well have continued along the path he was taking without walking over the bully, so completely had Jim blocked his way.
"Looky here, didn't yer hear me tell yer last night ter get outen this place?" demanded the wrecker's son, thrusting that aggressive chin of his forward still more, and glaring at his prospective victim in his usual commanding way.
"I believe you did say something like that. Are you Jim Dilks?" asked Darry, and to the surprise of the other he did not seem to show the customary anxiety that went with hostile demonstrations by the bully.
"When air yer going, then?" continued Jim.
"I haven't decided. In fact, I like my present accommodations with Mrs. Peake so well that I may stay there right along," replied Darry, steadily.
Jim caught his breath, and in such a noisy way that one would think it was a porpoise blowing in the inlet.
In all his experience he had never come across such an experience as this.
"I see yer want takin' down," he cried. "I've run this ranch a long time now, an' there ain't no new feller comin' here without I say so. Yer got ter skip out er take a lickin' on the spot. Now, I give yer one more chanct ter say yer'll hoof it."
Darry knew what it meant, for he had not knocked around so long without learning the signs of storm and fight.