Too amazed by such treatment to think of refusing to reply, the old man stammered:
"Forty dollars."
"Giving you a profit of practically twenty-five dollars, eh? Is that the way you made all your money, stealing food from the mouths of helpless women and children?"
"I won't listen to such abuse!" roared Hiram Rozier and he started to shut the door in the great outlaw's face.
The latter had been expecting such a move, however, and quickly reaching out his powerful right arm, seized the old man and yanked him on to the porch, hissing:
"Oh, yes you will—and more too. I want you to get on this wagon and drive with me to the man to whom you sold Mrs. Shaw's cow."
"And if I refuse?"
"I'll have you arrested for selling stolen property."
The humiliation and disgrace such a proceeding would bring upon the name of Rozier decided the old man and he rejoined: