"Say! Do you want to get your fool self killed?" he cried; then in an altered tone: "Oh! Is it you, Gordon?"
"You knew very well it was I." Gordon swallowed hard and partially controlled his wrath. "What do you mean by such carelessness?" he demanded. "You ought to be hung for a thing like that." He brushed the dirt from his expensive hunting-suit.
"I yelled my head off! You must be deaf."
"You saw me coming! Don't say you didn't. Fortunately I wasn't hurt." In a tone of command he added, "You'll have to stop blasting until I go through with my party."
"Sorry! Every day counts with us." Appleton grinned. "You know how it is—short season, and all that."
"Come, come! Don't be an idiot. I have no time to waste,"
"Then you'll have to go around," said Dan. "This isn't a public road, you know."
Gordon had come to argue, to pacify, to gain his ends by lying, if necessary, but this impudent jackanapes infuriated him. His plans had gone smoothly so far, and the unexpected threat of resistance momentarily provoked him beyond restraint.
"You scoundrel," he cried. "You'd have blown me into the river if you could. But I'll go through this canon—"
"Go as far and as fast as you like," Dan interrupted with equal heat, "only take your own chances, and have a net spread at the lower end of the rapids to catch the remains."