've a little more to say to you yet," Dick responded.

"Get off my shoulders!"

"I will---when I'm through with you," Dick agreed.

"You'll get off at once, or I'll roll you off!" came the now angry
threat.

"Try it," Dick urged coolly.

Right then and there the stranger did try it. He "heaved," then
attempted to roll and grapple with the young camper. He would
have succeeded, too, had Prescott relied upon his strength alone.
But Dick employed both hands in getting a neck-hold that hurt.

"Now, quit your fooling," Prescott advised, "or I'll let out a
whoop that will bring five more fellows here. Do you know what
they would do to you? They'd just about lynch you---schoolboy
fashion. Do you know what a schoolboy lynching is?"

"No," sullenly answered the stranger, as he started to renew the
struggle.

"You will know, soon, if you don't stop your stupid fooling,"
Dick told him.

"Hang you, kid. Get off of me, and keep your hands away, or I'll
hurt you more than you were ever hurt in your life, and I'll get
away with it, too, before your friends come!"

So lively did the struggle become that Dick was obliged to use
his clenched fist against the side of the prowler's jaw. That
quieted the stranger for an instant.

Leaping lightly from his troublesome captive, Dick snatched up
a heavy club of firewood that lay nearby.

"That's right," Dick agreed, swinging the club, as the other rose
to a sitting posture. "Sit up, but don't try to get up any farther
unless you want to feel this stake, which is tougher than those
other steaks!"

Prescott kept nimbly out of reach of the other's arms, though
he took pains to keep himself where he could jump in with a handy
blow at need.

"Now," remarked the high school boy, "you are getting an idea
as to who's boss."

"Well, what do you want?" asked the other sullenly. He had already
drawn down a tattered, battered old cap so that it screened his
face.

"I want to get a better look at you," Prescott replied. "I want
to be able to know you anywhere. Tan colored woollen shirt; brown
corduroy trousers; low-cut black shoes; cap defies description.
Now, let me see your face."

With that Dick bent quickly, picking up an oil-soaked bunch of
faggots that he had prepared before the others had turned in for
the night and dropped them upon the campfire.

Like a flash he was back, close to the stranger. "Don't you dare
try to get up!" Dick threatened, swinging the club