Page:Lefty o' the Bush.djvu/230

 Instantly Stark sprang to part them, exclaiming:

"Don't hit him, Tom—don't hit him!"

"I haven't any intention of hitting him—this time," answered Locke. "But that was a nasty word he used, and he should be more careful."

Hutchinson took a hand. Two or three other men came quickly from the office and joined in holding the struggling, panting lumber king's son in check, Locke having released him and permitted himself to be pushed back.

"I say he's a liar!" shouted Benton. "He knows he lies! I'll prove it for everybody. Take your hands off me, and I'll fight him here or anywhere else. I dare him to meet me like a man! He hasn't the courage! He's a coward!"

"You're plumb anxious to get your face broke, ain't ye?" snapped Larry Stark. "You wouldn't last a minute with him. What's eating you, anyhow?"

The hotel proprietor indignantly announced that he did not propose to have a fight in his house.

"I'm surprised, Mr. King, that you should start trouble here," he said. "I ask you, as a gentleman, to quit it."

"All right, Mr. Sawyer," said Bent. "As you