"Well, you have done so! What do you propose to do?"
"To flog you within an inch of your life!" said the tramp savagely. "Just get out of the wagon, and we will proceed to business!"
As he spoke he seized the bridle, and Gerald felt that the crisis had come. He drew the whistle from his pocket, and blew a loud blast upon it.
Saul Gridley was startled by the whistle. What did it mean? He decided that it was only a ruse, intended to frighten him.
"None of your fooling!" he exclaimed, angrily. "It won't do any good. Get down from the wagon immediately!"
"Thank you. I would rather not," said Gerald, composedly.
"Then, my boy, I will pull you down!"
He started to carry out his threat, when something happened that really startled him. A bullet whizzed by his ear.
"What!" he began, in a startled tone, but the sentence was not finished, for, darting from a covert where he had been concealed, Louis Bean made his appearance on the scene. Saul Gridley stared at him with dazed countenance.
"What are you about there, you rascal?" demanded Bean, sternly.