CHAPTER XVIII.
AN INTERRUPTED PARTY "Oh! It's you, is it ?" muttered Lieutenant Wingate, rising slowly, his eyes fixed on the face of the man before him.
"Ah reckons as it's me," agreed Lum, permitting a hand to slip carelessly inside his coat across the chest, where Lieutenant Wingate had reason to believe that a revolver hung suspended from a shoulder holster.

This being the case, he considered it inadvisable to reach for his own weapon.
As yet the drama being played by the two men had not attracted the attention of those in the schoolroom, with the exception of the Overland girls who had recognized Lum instantly, and Julie Thompson, who was gazing open-mouthed from one to the other of them.
"Ah told ye t' git out, didn't Ah ?" demanded the mountaineer in a strained voice.
"And I put you out," retorted Hippy.

"This is no place for a fight.

If you wish to see me, come around to our camp in the morning." "Be careful, Hippy," warned Anne in a low tone.
"Ah'm goin' t' say it agin, once more.

You git out o' this right smart or Ah'll put er hole through yer miserable carcass!" Hippy suddenly found himself facing a revolver in the hands of Lum Bangs.
The dancers stopped dancing, a couple at a time, and quickly got out of range of Lum Bangs' weapon; the music died away, and a heavy silence, tense with possibilities, settled over the hot, smoky room.
"Are ye goin' ?" "On one condition--that you put down your gun and come outside with me.
We'll have it out man to man.