“Who are you?” I asked innocently.
“No matter who we are. Has Waddie any right to insult us? Has he any right to cowhide a fellow smaller than he is, within an inch of his life?”
“No; but two wrongs don’t make a right, anyhow you can fix it. Don’t you think it is mean for four great fellows like you to set upon one, and abuse him?” I asked.
“It isn’t any meaner than what Waddie did, anyhow. We mean to teach him that he can’t trample upon us fellows, and drive us around like slaves. We have stood this thing long enough, and we mean to show him that the knife cuts both ways,” replied the fellow with the gruffest voice.
“I don’t see it. I haven’t any doubt Waddie has imposed upon you; but I think he has used me as badly as he ever did any other fellow. I don’t believe in this sort of thing.”
“I never will do it again, Wolf, if you will save me this time,” pleaded poor Waddie, in piteous tones.
“Well, it’s none of your business, Wolf Penniman, and you can leave,” added the speaker.
“I think you had better let Waddie go this time. I’ll go bail for him, if you will,” I continued good-naturedly, for I was not disposed to provoke a conflict with the ruffians.
“Not if we know it! We have watched too long to catch him to let him go now,” replied the gruff-toned ruffian, emerging from the bushes, followed by his companions.
They halted between Waddie and me, and I tried to make out who they were; but they were so effectually disguised that all my scrutiny was baffled. I have since come to the conclusion that I had never been acquainted with them, and so far as I know, no one ever found out who they were. I resorted to the most persuasive rhetoric in my power to induce the boys to forego their purpose; but they were obdurate and inflexible. I tried to give them a Sunday-school lesson, and they laughed at me. I endeavored to point out to them the consequences of the act, assuring them that Colonel Wimpleton would leave no measure untried to discover and punish them.