"So you're the sneak who gave me away, are you?" demanded Spooner, turning upon the lad savagely.
Steve eyed the contractor calmly.
"Am I?"
"You are!"
"I may be the man, and in fact I will admit that I was instrumental in exposing your crookedness, but I am not a sneak. It strikes me that you have laid yourself open to being called one."
The man's face turned white with anger. He opened and closed his fingers, with difficulty restraining himself from fastening them upon the calm-faced boy beside him. Steve munched his food steadily, but he was watching the man narrowly.
"I—I'll be even with you for that, you sneaking cur!" shouted Spooner. "Yes, I'll be even with you!"
"I wouldn't threaten, were I in your place. If anything should happen to me you might be accused, you know," answered Rush in a tantalizing tone. "What do you propose to do to me?"
Spooner leaped up and shook his fist under the Iron Boy's nose. The latter did not flinch.