Bang! That was Hal's rifle, again in action. He had aimed swiftly, but deliberately, for the base of the tree.
Against the military rifle of to-day an ordinary tree offers no protection. The American Army rifle, at short range, will send a bullet through three feet of green oak.
"Wow!" yelled the other. Though Hal did not then know it, the bullet had driven a handful of dirt into the fellow's mouth.
Hal could hear the rascal spitting, so he called:
"Come on out and surrender, and I won't fire again."
"You go to blazes!" yelled an angry voice.
Muffled as the voice was, it had a strangely familiar sound to the young soldier.
Hal seized the chance to fill his magazine as he shot the bolt back. He slipped another cartridge into the chamber.
From the sounds beyond he knew that his enemy was also reloading.
"Any time you want me to stop shooting," Hal coolly announced, "just call out that you surrender."