"A-h-h!" said he, and I saw the stick quiver in his grip.
"As I said before, you are a very observant man!" said I, watching the stick.
"Well, I've got eyes, and can see as much as most folk," he retorted, and here the stick quivered again.
"Yes," I nodded; "you also possess legs, and can probably walk fast?"
"Ah!—and run, too, if need be," he added significantly.
"Then suppose you start."
"Start where?"
"Anywhere, so long as you do start."
"Not wi'out you, my buck! I've took a powerful fancy to you, and that there five hundred pounds"—here his left hand shot out and grasped my collar—"so s'posin' you come along o' me. And no tricks, mind—no tricks, or—ah!—would ye?" The heavy stick whirled up, but, quick as he, I had caught his wrist, and now presented my pistol full in his face.
"Drop that stick!" said I, pressing the muzzle of the weapon lightly against his forehead as I spoke. At the touch of the cold steel his body suddenly stiffened and grew rigid, his eyes opened in a horrified stare, and the stick clattered down on the road.