But Dowley, grasping the club tighter, made a sudden lunge.
Bang!
Hal fired his second shot. Not even now did he aim to hit. The bullet whizzed past Dowley's left ear. But that fellow, who had seen the quick pressure of Soldier Hal's finger on the trigger, threw himself flat to the floor once more, and this time the club rolled from his hand.
"I mean business, and it will be better for all of you to understand it," Private Overton announced. "Get up, Dowley, and you three men form in single file. Corporal Minturn, you take the lead."
"I'll take it in another way," leered the corporal, bending and snatching up the club. "Hooper, you pin the kid's arms!"
Hooper made a move on Hal's other side. The soldier boy had to dodge to avoid being seized.
As he did so Dowley leaped up from the floor to join in the attack from in front.
Again Hal Overton raised his service revolver, though with no more intention than before of wounding any of the ugly trio.
But Corporal Minturn, as his muddled brain now figured it, had to strike in self-defense.
Whack!