“Where is that dub?” he roared. “Show him to me!”
He aimed a tremendous blow at the young man’s face. But a clever duck of the head prevented its doing any harm.
“Hello, Bob Gordon!” shouted Mackenzie Douglas to the young man. “You’re there, are ye? Ye did a gude thing in layin’ out this galoot.”
He seized Dan Mosely behind as he spoke, for the fellow was trying to strike Bob Gordon down from behind with a chair.
“No, ye don’t, Dan!” cried Douglas. “This is goin’ to be a fair stand-up fight. We’ll hae it by the rules. Tak’ aff yer coats, both of ye, an’ let’s see who’s best man. Ye hae twenty pounds the best of it, Dan, but I’m thinkin’ Bob can lick ye in spite of it. Come on, Bob!”
But, to the intense astonishment of Mackenzie Douglas, as well as of everybody else who had been watching the fracas, Bob Gordon turned away.
“I won’t fight him,” said Gordon, in a low voice.
“What?” howled Douglas. “Why not?”
“I don’t want to fight!”
“But what for? This Dan Mosely tried to hit ye, an’ you knocked him down just now. There was the lassie, too. Ye’ll hae to fight for her sake.”