“Give me back those fish!” cried Tommy.
“Not to-day,” sneered the bully, and, as Tommy made a grab for them, Jakie hit him on the chest.
Poor Tommy staggered back. He was not a boy in the habit of fighting, for his parents, he knew, did not like him to use his fists. Yet he did not want to be imposed upon. He felt that Jakie could get the best of him in a fight; still, somehow, Tommy was not afraid.
“Are you going to take my fish?” Tommy asked, quietly, for he thought Jakie might, after all, be only playing a joke.
“Of course I am,” answered the older boy, sneeringly.
“Then I’m going to take them away from you,” retorted Tommy. “Look out!”
He was about to make a spring for his antagonist, when he heard someone approaching through the bushes. Both boys half turned their heads to see who it was. It might be a friend of either of them.
Jakie was on the alert to run away, for he realized that if one of Tommy’s friends came along the two boys would more than be a match for him.
And then the figure that was coming through the bushes came into view. At the sight of another lad, who quickly advanced, Jakie called out:
“Hello, Sam! Glad you came. This lad here let my string of fish go, and when I want to take his string, he says I can’t.”