“You don’t dare do it! And you can’t put words in my mouth!”
“Take it back then!”
“I’ll take nothing back—that I’ve said.”
A little voice seemed to whisper in Sam’s ear that the Safety First Club was hardly living up to its name. He caught Step’s wrist, and drew the tall youth back. Then he addressed the still bristling Shark.
“I don’t like what you’ve said any better than Step likes it. But I don’t intend to let anybody get into a fight over it. It was a bully good dinner we had, and I’m not ashamed to say it was. You wouldn’t have me lie about it, would you?”
“N-no,” the Shark admitted.
“And you wouldn’t expect me to pretend I was ashamed of accepting Varley’s invitation?”
“Why—why, no.”
“And I haven’t hinted you were sore because you weren’t lucky enough to be there.”
The Shark reddened to the roots of his hair. “Anybody who says that——” he began hotly.