"I'll fix you for that, boy!"
"I don't intend yon shall have the chance!" panted Franklin, almost winded by the short but sharp struggle. "Lie still where you are, unless you want the chair over your skull!"
"That's right—don't let him get up again!" put in Mrs. Bliss, in a trembling voice. "He will kill you if he gets the chance I I know just how violent he is when he is aroused."
"If I had a cord I would bind him," said Franklin. "That man, Fipher may come—"
"Hi! what's the matter here!" demanded a voice from the hallway, and then Nathan Fipher strode into the room, a look of commingled bewilderment and astonishment upon his rather dried-up features.
"Seize the young rascal!" cried Montague Smith "Seize him, Fipher, and don't let him get away!"
"But who is he?"
"A friend of Mrs. Bliss. I don't know how he has learned of her being here. Catch him, I tell you, before he makes for the door and gets away from us!"
At the command Nathan Fipher sprang upon Franklin and a fierce struggle ensued. Montague Smith, thinking he now had a chance to join in, attempted to rise, but before he could accomplish it Mrs. Bliss sprang at him, a heavy water pitcher in her uplifted hand.
"Stay where you are, Montague Smith!" she
