tered Lieutenant Wingate, rising slowly, his
eyes fixed on the face of the man before him.

"Ah reckons as it's me," agreed Lum, permitting a hand to slip
carelessly inside his coat across the chest, where Lieutenant Wingate
had reason to believe that a revolver hung suspended from a shoulder
holster. This being the case, he considered it inadvisable to reach for
his own weapon.

As yet the drama being played by the two men had not attracted the
attention of those in the schoolroom, with the exception of the Overland
girls who had recognized Lum instantly, and Julie Thompson, who was
gazing open-mouthed from one to the other of them.

"Ah told ye t' git out, didn't Ah?" demanded the mountaineer in a
strained voice.

"And I put you out," retorted Hippy. "This is no place for a fight. If
you wish to see me, come around to our camp in the morning."

"Be careful, Hippy," warned Anne in a low tone.

"Ah'm goin' t' say it agin, once more. You git out o' this right smart
or Ah'll put er hole through yer miserable carcass!"

Hippy suddenly found himself facing a revolver in the hands of Lum
Bangs.

The dancers stopped dancing, a couple at a time, and quickly got out of
range of Lum Bangs' weapon; the music died away, and a heavy silence,
tense with possibilities, settled over the hot, smoky room.

"Are ye goin'?"

"On one condition--that you put down your gun and come outside with me.
We'll have it out man to man. These gentlemen will give us fair play,
and the fellow who is whipped takes his medicine and goes. Are you man
enough to come out and stand up to me?" Hippy thrust out his chin, and
there was a set expression on his face, such as Grace Harlowe recalled
having seen there immediately after he had shot down three German
airplanes on the French fighting front.

"No, no!" begged Nora, not much above a whisper.

"Oh, stop him!" begged Emma of the young mountaineer with whom she had
been dancing. "He's going to shoot. I know he is. Make them fight it
out with their fists. Hippy whipped Lum once, and he can do it again.
I'll be Lum's second and you can be the second for Lieutenant Wingate."

"What's er second, Miss?"

"A--a second is one who fans his fighter with a towel, and wipes up the
blood. Oh, do stop him!"

"Ah reckon Ah will," drawled the mountaineer.

"Are ye goin'?" demanded Lum Bangs.

"No!"

"Drop that gun or I'll drill ye, Lum Bangs!" commanded the cool voice of
Emma Dean's dancing partner