"Oh, Dick! Be quick!" sounded the voice.
"Pardon me," said Prescott to Susie, as he sprang forward through the brush.
It was a startling scene that met the high school boy's gaze as he bounded forward.
Tag Mosher, holding his shotgun under his left arm, stood confronting Laura and Belle. In his right, hand he held a gold chain and locket that he had snatched from Laura Bentley's neck. In one of his pockets, out of sight, now rested two valuable rings that he had forcibly stripped from one of Belle's hands.
"Sorry, girls," he was saying. "I never did anything quite as bad as this before. But if you knew how badly I need to get away from these parts you'd know why I'm holding up girls to get money to pay my fare, and——-"
Just then Tag Mosher caught sight of Dick Prescott.
"Stand back!" warned Tag hoarsely. "I don't want to have to do anything worse than I've just done. Stand back, or by the blue sky——-"
CHAPTER XX
SOME IMITATION VILLAINY
"Oh, Dick, do keep back. He won't harm us further," cried Laura.