Dan Baxter heard him coming and tried to get away, but as Tom
called out, Sam's courage rose, and he grabbed the bully by the
foot and held him.

"Let go!" roared Dan Baxter, but Sam would not, and in a second
more Tom was at hand and hit the bully such a stinging blow in
the face that Baxter went down in a heap.

A rough-and-tumble scrimmage ensued, and it must be said that the
bully got by far the worst of it. Tom hit him again and again,
and Sam also, and when at last he staggered to his feet, one eye
was almost closed and his nose was bleeding profusely.

"Now I guess you won't tackle any of us again," said Tom.

"I'll get even-mark my words!" roared Baxter, and ran down the
lake shore in the direction the Falcon had taken.

When Baxter reached the yacht he was so weak he could scarcely
stand. It was a long while before he could stop his nose from
bleeding, and his eye stung with a pain that was maddening.

"Did little Sam Rover do that?" asked Mumps, while Josiah
Crabtree looked on in curious silence.

"Sam Rover?" snorted Baxter. "Not much! Why, the whole crowd
piled on me six or seven of them at a time. They tried to kill
me!"

"Didn't you defend yourself, Daniel?" asked Crabtree.