e side of the
street and began his vigil. The seconds seemed to drag by endlessly, but
Dick never took his eyes from the entrance of the warehouse. And at
last--he had really been waiting less than ten minutes!--he was
rewarded. Hallo came out holding his hand to his head, staggering a
little as he walked. Dick gave him a start, and then crossed and
followed. He dropped his corn as he went, and his hand was on the
automatic pistol in his pocket, which somehow gave him a sense of
security.

Hallo turned a corner; Dick hurried a little. And, as he rounded the
corner in his turn, there was Hallo--waiting! At the sight of Dick he
almost screamed, but choked the cry.

"So it's you, is it?" he cried. He made a savage rush, his arms
outstretched like those of a gorilla.

CHAPTER XIV

THE EXPLOSION

But the sight of the wicked looking little gun in Dick's hand stopped
his rush. Mouthing his words, venomous hate in his eyes, he checked
himself.

"What do you want, you little devil?" he said, grittingly.

"Turn around!" said Dick, savagely. Somehow that wild rush that had
stopped just as the man's cruel arms were about to close about him had
aroused something in Dick that he had never felt before. For the first
time he knew what it meant to see red. He felt that he would like to
have Hallo down and beat him with his fists, with the butt of his
pistol--with anything, if it would only hurt his enemy enough!

Hallo tried to meet his eyes for a moment. Then he turned round, so that
his back was to Dick. The scout pressed the muzzle of the little
automatic, that, despite its tiny proportions, was still such a deadly
weapon, into the small of Hallo's back.

"Do you feel that?" he said. "And do you know that I can't miss when
you're so close to me? Don't think I am afraid to shoot because I tell
you right now, Mike Hallo, that I'll fire the first time you don't do
exactly as I say."

"You'll pay for this!" said Hallo, furiously. "This isn't America, with
its lynchings, where people can take the law into their own hands."

"You needn't sneer at America!" said Dick, with cold anger in his voice.
"You earned a good living there, and made a small fortune--and you stole
another! Now, then, step forward! Slowly--and go straight ahead until I
tell you to turn."

With a snarl Hallo obeyed. And Dick, as he went along behind him,
keeping the pistol in such a position that he could use it on the
instant, began to talk to h