"Stay here like men and assert your rights! Come on! I'll lead you, and show you how to throw these meddlers out." "You'll do it---just like this, eh ?" demanded Tom Reade.
He made a leap for the leader of the gamblers, catching the fellow by the throat and waist.

Lifting him, Tom hurled the fellow a dozen feet.

The gambler fell on one side, but was up in a moment, his right hand traveling toward a hip pocket.
"Don't draw," mocked Tom, with another smile.

"Probably you haven't a pistol there.

If you have, you can never make me believe that you have sand enough to draw and shoot before as many witnesses as I have on hand." "I've a good mind to drill you with lead!" scowled the gambler, still resting his hand behind him.
"But you're a wise man," mocked Reade, "and wise men often change their minds." However, the very move of the gambler to draw a pistol had had one effect that Tom ardently desired.