"You're putting a wrong construction on my words," returned Hal quietly.
"You called me a light-fingered crook, didn't you?" demanded Dowley hotly.
"I spoke of your performance as a light-fingered trick."
"That's the same thing," raged the older man.
"Is it?"
"Don't play baby, and don't crawfish," sneered Dowley, scowling. "You know what you meant."
"And you seem to think you know, too."
"We must break this up," whispered Private Hyman to Noll Terry, Hal Overton's soldier chum. "I don't want to see him get hurt."
"What do you care about Dowley?" asked Noll, shrugging his shoulders.
"Dowley be hanged!" retorted Hyman. "It's your kid friend I'm thinking about."