's jaw. Dave ducked, and, as Merwell swung around, caught the bully
in the right ear. Then he followed the blow by one on the neck and
another directly in the mouth. The latter loosened two teeth and sent
the bully into the arms of Hank Snogger.

"Well, have you had enough?" asked Dave. He was panting for breath, and
his eyes were blazing with determination.

A look full of the bitterest kind of hatred filled the face of Link
Merwell, but he was too staggered to attack Dave again. He leaned on
Hank Snogger and then turned his face away.

"I say, have you had enough--or do you want another dose?" demanded
Dave.

"I'll--fight this out some other time," answered Merwell, weakly. He
realized that the eyes of the crowd were on him, and this made him
furious. But he did not dare to risk another attack from the Crumville
youth, fearing what fighters call "a knockout."

"Then you have had enough, eh?" went on Dave. "Very well. And now,
Merwell, I advise you to keep your distance. If you don't--well, you'll
catch it worse, that's all."

"Link is tired out from his long train ride," remarked Hank Snogger. "He
ain't in no fit condition fer a scrap. Wait till he has rested up a week
or two--then he'll show thet tenderfoot what's what." And with these
words he led Link away to where a couple of horses were tied. He leaped
on one and the bully leaped on the other, and in a moment more both were
off for the Merwell ranch.

"Well, youngster, I reckon you can hold your own," remarked Mr. Hooper.
He had led a rough-and-tumble life himself and did not look on a fight
as a dreadful matter. "You had him going."

"So you did, Dave," added Sid Todd, while several other cowboys nodded
in assent.

"He forced the fight," answered Dave. "I suppose he'll try it again some
day."

"Merwell always was scrappy," said one of the cowboys.

"Takes after his dad," added another; and then there was a general
laugh. Several came up to shake hands with Dave and congratulate him on
the outcome of the little bout. Some of the cowboys were not very
refined, and to them such a fist-fight seemed a great thing.

There were a number of letters for those at Star Ranch, including two
for Dave,--from his father and from Ben Basswood. With the epistles in
their pockets, Dave and Sid Todd started on the return to the Endicott
place. They had to follow, for some distance, the trail taken by Link
and Snogger, their road branching off after the bridge over t