"Bart did!" chorused several.
Striding to where the calumniator stood, Fred looked straight in his face.
"Did you say my father was dishonest?"
But the accuser did not have the courage to say in the presence of the son what he had said in his absence, despite the fact that he overtopped Fred by a good two inches, and temporized:
"I said there was something queer about your father's failure. My father said so."
"You are right, Bart Montgomery. There was something 'queer' about it—but not on my father's side!"
"What do you mean?" snarled Bart.
"Anything you want to think," returned Fred.
Drawing back his right hand, Bart hissed:
"I'll teach you to say things about my father, you puppy! Even before yours failed mine could buy him and sell him."