“I don’t understand this. I believe you are deceiving me,” said the older man, suspiciously.
“Think what you please,” said Bill, sullenly. “It is as I say.”
“Didn’t you take out the bills and replace them with worthless paper?”
“No, I didn’t. I wouldn’t dare play such a trick on you. I know you are a desperate and reckless man, and I wouldn’t try it.”
“Then will you explain this foolery?” said Hogan, sharply. “Why did you let the boy palm off this worthless paper on you?”
“I’ll tell you all about it,” said Bill, convinced that his personal safety required him to allay the evident suspicion of the old man.
Thereupon he told the story, which is already familiar to the reader.
“You’re a fool!” said Hogan, with bitter harshness. “Bah! are you not a match for a boy of sixteen?”
“He may be only sixteen,” said Bill, doggedly; “but he’s no baby, I can tell you that! As to not being a match for him, you know something about that.”
Mike Hogan sprang to his feet, livid with fury at this allusion to what was, with him, a very sore subject.