"Ho! ho! Do you mean to say you can stand up against me?" he asked
derisively.

"I can try," I returned stoutly. "I'm sure now that you have no
business here."

"Why, you miserable little thief--"

"Stop that! I'm no thief, if you please."

"Well, you're the son of one, and that's the same thing."

"My father is innocent, and I won't allow any one, big or little, to
call him a thief," I burst out. "Some day he will be cleared."

"Not much!" laughed Duncan. "My father knows all about the case. I can
tell you that."

"Then perhaps he knows where the money went to," I replied quickly. "I
know he was very intimate with my father at that time."

Had I stopped to think I would not have spoken as I did. My remark
made the young man furious, and I had hardly spoken before Duncan hit
me a stinging blow on the forehead, and, springing upon me, bore me to
the ground.

CHAPTER II

AN ASSAULT ON THE ROAD