low in his face, for which he was totally unprepared, sent Gleeson
again to the ground, and also brought home to him the fact that he was
very much at a disadvantage, and to a man who was by no means loth to
profit by it.

He was not a fighter, either by instinct or training. In the matter of
words he might hold his own, and, to any one who believed him, appear a
man of great strength and courage. But when, by any mischance, he
stumbled across an opponent who knew enough to correctly estimate the
value of his professions, and who was self-reliant and sturdy enough to
face him and challenge a proof of his assertions, Gleeson retired, or,
failing escape, subsided rapidly. Usually his tact, as he called it, was
successful in extricating him from positions where an exercise of brute
force was imminent against him; he had never before been called on to
cope with such a situation as he now realized he was in.

The second blow, directed more at his mouth, had not had the stupefying
effect of the first, though it brought him to the ground with what
Palmer Billy regarded as expert thoroughness. As he lay there, he
understood the turn matters had taken; he was in the middle of what he
had always managed to avoid, a rough-and-tumble bout of fisticuffs, and
with a man stronger and more expert than himself. He partly raised his
head from the ground in order to ascertain the disposition of the other
two members of the party. He saw them behind Palmer Billy, looking on
with apparent indifference to what was transpiring, and realized that
they were certainly not on his side.

Palmer Billy, as he saw Gleeson raise his head, stepped over to him.

"You'd like to get up, I take it," he said, and reached down to catch
him by the collar.

"Don't hit me. I never did you any harm," Gleeson whined, shrinking from
the extending hand which he expected was about to administer another
blow, and hiding his face on his arms.

Palmer Billy, standing up, glanced round at the other two with a look of
scorn on his face.

"What price _that_?" he asked, with a mixture of savagery and contempt
in his voice. "Here, get up," he went on before they could answer him,
as he stirred Gleeson roughly with his foot. "Get up on to yer bended
knees, or I'll sink a shaft through you as you lay."

Gleeson, fearful and subdued, scrambled up as he was told.

"Now," said Palmer Billy, with a fine tone of indignant authority,
"we'll go on to the second portion of