o see what a new recruit would
do under these circumstances. Possibly, too, he thought, the woman
wished to see an exhibition of his strength, and they had for that
purpose pitted one of their best bullies against him.

He surveyed the fellow with a quick and comprehensive glance; and in
that glance he saw that the man was a burly one, who evidently possessed
great strength. But Nick did not care for that. He was only turning over
in his mind in that instant what course it would be best for him to
pursue. And the answer came to him when the bully repeated the question.

"Where to, pard?" he demanded again, still with the sarcastic leer on
his dirty face.

"When you get back, I'll tell you!" exclaimed Nick; and at the same
instant he darted a step forward and seized the man by the
throat-and-hip hold of ju-jutsu, and the next instant had sent him
whirling through the air as if he were a cartwheel.

He struck the ground ten feet away, and went rolling over and over among
the bushes, where there happened to be a mass of cat brier, or creeping
thorn; and the series of howls and curses he sent up was a wonder.

A roar of laughter from every side proved to Nick that all had been
watching for the outcome of that episode; but he looked neither to the
right nor the left, but strode onward toward the boat.

And then he heard a cry of warning from behind him, and he leaped aside
just as the fellow he had thrown fired a bullet pointblank at him from
close behind.

As it was, the missile pierced his coat sleeve inside his arm.

As Nick leaped aside he also turned.

The hobo who had fired the shot was already running toward him, and now
he was endeavoring with every effort in his power to discharge the
weapon again; but for some reason the mechanism of the lock refused to
work, and in an instant more Nick had leaped upon him and grasped him a
second time.

He was determined now that the fellow should have a lesson indeed; so
while he held him at arm's length with one hand, he pummeled him with
the other until his face was a mass of bruises; and then, when the
yeggman was in a condition bordering upon insensibility, Nick raised him
bodily from his feet, and holding him in his arms, ran with him down
along the path toward the water.

And reaching the edge of the swamp, he threw him out into the muddy
water, headfirst.

It was not deep, but it was filled with soft ooze, which filled the
ears, and eyes, and nose, and mouth