“Yes, that’s it. The dogs!” cried Mark. “I know there’s a big cave up there that you go in through a narrow crack. I saw it once. They couldn’t get my father to have them up at the Tor, and so they’ve taken possession of the cavern and turned robbers. Well, my father will soon rout them out of there.”
“If yours don’t, mine will,” replied Ralph. “But they don’t seem disposed to interfere. Are they stopping to see us fight?”
“If they are,” cried Mark hotly, “they’ll have to wait a long time. I’m not going to make a raree-show of myself to please them.”
“Nor I neither,” cried Ralph. “But,” he added hastily, “you know I’m not afraid?”
“Say you know that I’m not afraid either, and I’ll say the same.”
“Oh, I’ll say that,” replied Ralph, “because I know it.”
“That’s right, then,” said Mark; “and we can finish having it out another time.”
“Of course. I say, though, your leg’s bleeding a good deal.”
“Oh, never mind that. So’s your arm.”
“Can’t be deep,” said Ralph, “because it only smarts a bit. I say, look there! That’s Captain Purlrose upon the stone, and he’s making signals again.”