Patsy was taking no chances of losing half of his face in one fierce bite of the brute, and he instantly ducked his head and crouched lower.
“It’s all off!” was the thought that flashed through his mind. “I am now obliged to put up a game of bluff.”
The screams of the two women were now mingled with the furious barking of the bloodhound, and Vic Clayton was shouting affrightedly:
“Come out here! Come out here, Amos! There’s something the matter with this dog. I think he has gone mad.”
Before the last was uttered, both Badger and Conley came rushing out of the inner cellar.
The two men instantly guessed the meaning of the brute’s actions, and both rushed toward the car.
“Gone mad be hanged!” shouted Badger. “There’s something wrong with that hamper, not with the dog.”
“That’s right, Amos,” yelled Conley.
“Ah, I thought so! Get out, you brute, or I’ll brain you! What the devil have we here?”
Badger had given the excited brute a second kick in the ribs, that once more sent him yelping out of doors, much to Patsy’s relief, despite the sudden change in the situation.