"What do I want of you? I shouldn't think you'd need to be told. You remember me, don't you?"
"Perfectly well," answered Robert.
"Perhaps you can remember where you saw me last?"
"In the circus last evening."
"No, I don't mean that—before that."
"In your own field, trying to whip a poor boy who was going to call the doctor for his sick mother."
"Look here, boy," said Tarbox, reddening; "none of your impudence!"
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"Did I tell the truth?" asked Robert quietly.
"Never mind whether you did or not. I ain't going to stand any of your impudence. Where's that big brute Enoch?"
"If you mean Anak, I left him in the tent."
"He needn't think he can go round insulting and committing assault and battery on his betters," said Tarbox.
"You can tell him that if you like, sir; I am not responsible for him."
"No, but you are responsible for trespassin' on my grounds."
"I would do it again if I saw you trying to flog a defenceless boy," said Robert, independently.
"You would, hey?" sneered Tarbox. "Well, now, you may change your opinion on that subject before we part company."
"Come, Rob, let's be going," said Charlie Davis, who didn't find this conversation interesting.
"You can go," said Tarbox; "I hav'nt anything ag'inst you; but this boy's got to stay."
"What for?" asked Charlie.
"What for? He'll find out what for."
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"If you touch him, I'll send Anak after you," said Charlie.
"You will, hey? So you are impudent, too. Well, I'll have to give you a lesson, too."
Tarbox felt that it was time to commence business, and made a grab for Robert's collar, but the boy was agile, and quickly dodging ran to one side.
Charlie Davis laughed, which further annoyed and provoked Mr. Tarbox, but the wrath of the farmer was chiefly directed against Robert, who had witnessed his discomfiture at the hands of the Norwegian giant. He therefore set out to catch the young circus-rider, but Robert was fleet-footed, and led him a fruitless chase around trees, and Tarbox was not able to get his hand on him. What annoyed the farmer especially was that the boy did not seem at all frightened, and it appeared to be no particular effort to him to elude his grasp.
Tarbox was of a dogged, determined disposition, and the more difficult he found it to carry out his purpose the more resolved he was to accomplish it. It would never do to yield to two boys, who both together had less strength than88 he. It was different from encountering Anak, who was a match for three ordinary men.
But Tarbox, in spite of his anger, and in spite of his superior strength, was destined to come to grief.
He had not paid any special attention to the younger boy, being intent upon capturing Robert. Charlie, taking advantage of this, picked up a stout stick, which had apparently been cut for a cane and then thrown aside, and took it up first with the intention of defending himself, if necessary. But as Tarbox dashed by without noticing him, a new idea came to Charlie, and thrusting out the stick so that it passed between the legs of the pursuer, Tarbox was thrown violently to the ground, on which he lay for a moment prostrate and bewildered.
"Climb that tree, Rob!" called out Charlie quickly.
Robert accepted the suggestion. He saw that no time was to be lost, and with the quickness of a trained athlete made his way up the trunk and into the branches of a tall tree near at hand, while Charlie with equal quickness took refuge on another.
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Tarbox fell with such violence that he was jarred and could not immediately recover from the shock of his fall. When he did rise he was more angry than ever. He looked for the two boys and saw what had become of them. By this time Robert was at least twenty-five feet from the ground.
"Come down here, you, sir!" said the farmer, his voice shaking with passion.
"Thank you, sir," answered Robert coolly; "but at present I find it more agreeable up here."
"Come down here, and I'll give you the worst thrashing you ever had!"
"Your intentions are very kind, but the inducement isn't sufficient."
"If I hadn't fallen just as I did, I'd have had you by this time."
"That's just what I thought when I put the stick between your legs," called out Charlie Davis from another tree.
It may seem singular, but until then Tarbox had not understood how he came to fall. He had an idea that he had tripped over the root of a tree.
"Did you do that?" he asked wrathfully, turning to the smaller boy.
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"Yes, I did."
"If I could catch you, you wouldn't get out of this wood alive."
"Then I'm glad you can't get me," said Charlie, looking unconcernedly down upon his stalwart enemy.
"You're two of the worst boys I ever saw," proceeded the farmer, wrathfully.
"And I'm sure you're the worst man I ever saw."
"What's your name?" asked Tarbox, abruptly.
"Charlie Davis; I'm sorry I haven't got my card with me, or I'd throw it down to you."
"I'd like to have the bringing up of you."
"All right! Perhaps I'll appoint you my guardian."
"You're more impudent than the other one, though you ain't so big."
"Are you comin' down?" he inquired of Robert.
"Not at present."
"I won't stir from here till you do, if I have to stay all night."
This was not a cheerful reflection, for the two boys were expected to be present and ride in the evening, and their absence would be regretted,91 not only by the manager, but also by the public, with whom they were favorites.
"I say, Rob," called out Charlie, "how fond he is of our company!"
"So it seems!" responded Robert, who was quite cool but rather annoyed by the farmer's persistence.
"I only wish Bruiser were alive!" said Tarbox. "Then I'd know what to do."
"What would you do?" asked Charlie.
"I'd leave him to guard you, and then I'd go home and get my gun."
"What for?"
"I'd soon bring you down if I had that," answered the farmer, grimly.
"If that's what you would do I'm glad old Bruiser's kicked the bucket," said Charlie.
"I never shall get such another dog!" said Tarbox, half to himself, in a mournful voice. "Nobody dared to go across my ground when he was alive."
"Was that the dog that Anak killed?" asked Charlie.
"Yes," answered Robert, briefly. "He was a vicious-looking brute and deserved to die."
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At that moment Tarbox chanced to notice the stick which had produced his downfall, and a new idea came to him.
He picked it up, and breaking it in two seized one piece and flung it with all his force at Robert.
The latter caught and flung it back, knocking off the farmer's hat.
Tarbox was naturally incensed, and began again to hurl the missile, but anger disturbed his aim so that this time it went wide of the mark.
"I say, Robert," said Charlie, "this is interesting."
"I'm glad you find it so," answered Robert. "I can't say I enjoy it."
"You may just as well come down and take your thrashing now," said Tarbox, "for you're sure to get it."
"If you're in a hurry to get home to supper, perhaps we'll wait for you here," suggested Charlie, politely.
"Shut up, you saucebox! You won't have much appetite for supper!" retorted Tarbox.
He sat down where he could have a full view of both trees, when presently he heard Charlie93 call out in a terrified tone, "Rob, look there! The tiger's got loose! See him coming this way! Can he climb trees?"
Tarbox stopped to hear no more. He sprang to his feet, and without waiting to bid the boys good-by he took to his heels and fled from the wood, feeling that his life was in peril.