"Oh, I just dropped around," replied Dick, unconcernedly.
"Now, gentlemen," he continued, addressing the men, "I've got the drop on Blake, and if any one of you moves hand or foot I'll send him to a warmer place than this in pretty quick time."
"Don't mind me, boys—turn loose on him!" cried Blake pluckily, but nobody seemed inclined to obey.
"It won't do, Jim," spoke up one of his men. "We ain't a going to see you killed before our eyes. Besides, it's Dick Yankton."
"Jack!" called out Dick, "free the prisoner and be quick about it!"
"You're interfering with the law!" roared Blake, as the Captain proceeded to obey Dick's command.
"I know it," replied Dick; "it isn't the first time I've interfered with it either. Besides, I don't see why I haven't got as good a right to it as you or any other man." Blake sputtered and squirmed helplessly as he faced Dick's weapon, not daring to lift a hand.
"What objection have you got to our ridding the earth of this damned scoundrel, I'd like to know?" he asked, choking with rage.
"Oh, as to that, I've got several, Jim Blake, and one of them is—I don't like to see a man hanged before breakfast. It sort of takes away one's appetite, you know," he added, coolly eyeing his adversary over the barrel of his pistol.
"Well, if you ain't the most impudent cuss I ever seen!" cried Blake, by this time almost on the point of exploding.