“Of course you will,” nodded Darrin.  “Wait till I see if the lantern is all right.”

He crawled into the tent, found the lantern and struck a match.  Curiously enough the lantern had not been injured.  Placing the lantern outside, Darrin sharply commanded his chance companion to aid in propping the canvas so that those underneath could get air.

“Now, come along,” ordered Darrin, when this had been done.  “Towser, watch the—–­the gentleman!”

Thus they started up the slope, when they heard a growl just ahead of them.  In the same instant Towser, uttering a yelp, turned and darted away as fast as he could go.

“Now, we’ll see whether you’ll boss me,” grunted Fred Ripley, brandishing the club that he held in his left hand.  “Your dog is no good any more.”

“Neither will you or I be any good any more if we don’t keep our nerve,” uttered Darrin quietly, as he turned the lantern’s rays against the object in their path.  “There’s only one thing in the world Towser would run away from, and that’s just what is ahead of us—–­a mad dog!”

At this instant Fred, too, caught sight of the object in their path.  A large dog, of doubtful breed, stood before them, its head down, but its bloodshot eyes watching them cunningly.  It’s dripping jaws carried conviction that the animal was rabid.

Fred did not cry out or stir.  He was too frightened to do either.  But Dave very stealthily put down the lantern.  Then, his muscles wholly steady, he snatched up an eight-foot pole that lay on the ground.

“Now, come on, you beast!” challenged Darrin, making a slight thrust with the pole.

Enraged at the challenge, the rabid dog sprang forward, its mouth wide open.  Without faltering, Dave made a thrust that jammed the pole hard into the animal’s mouth.

Staggered by the blow, the dog fell back on its side.  It never rose again, for now Darrin used the pole as a club, raining down blows upon the dangerous animal until he was sure that there was no life left in it.

“Darrin, that was wonderful nerve of yours!” gasped Fred with admiration wrung from him in spite of himself.  “And you saved my life!”

“I wasn’t thinking of that,” said Dave grimly, as he picked up the lantern.  “Don’t you believe I’ll ever brag about having saved your life.  Now to the car, and be quick.”

Fred, stung by the contemptuous answer, felt his resentment raging.  He darted forward so swiftly that he might have been able to leap into the car and get away with it, had not something else happened.

For Towser, though he had run away from a rabid specimen of his own species, had circled about.  Now he leaped into the automobile, growling, just as Fred would have sprung in.

“That’s right, Towser.  Hold the sneak!” called Dave, arriving on a run and leaping into the car.  “Now, Ripley, hang you, do some quick and honest work!”