“Hands up there!” he called.

There came a choking cry from the queer figure and the long arms were raised high in the air.

“Good for you, Stubbs!” cried Hal at this juncture.

Stubbs gazed about sharply.

“About time you were getting here,” he said.  “I had a terrible fight with this fellow.”

CHAPTER VI.

A strange encounter.

Hal laughed aloud.

“Terrible fight, eh?” he exclaimed.  “Of course you did.  What else could you do?  You had to fight.  Pretty lucky, Stubbs.”

“Lucky!” echoed Stubbs.  “What do you mean, lucky?  If you had been here in time to see me tackle this fellow you would have known what a hard time I had.”

“I saw you,” replied Hal.  “You can put down your gun, now.  I’ll take care of this fellow.”

He leveled his own revolver at the queer-looking creature before him and Stubbs placed his newly-acquired revolver in his coat pocket.

Hal motioned to his prisoner to approach.  The latter did so with an ugly scowl on his face.  He seemed not to have the slightest fear and came up to the lad unflinchingly.

“Speak English?” asked Hal.

There was no reply.

“French?”

The man nodded.

“Who are you?” demanded Hal.

“Nikol.”

“Nikol what?”

The man did not reply, and Hal surveyed him critically.  He was at least thirty-five years of age, could not have been an inch more than four feet in height, and his long, knotted arms, apparently as strong as a gorilla’s, reached almost to the ground, where his huge hand clasped and unclasped nervously.  Involuntarily Hal shuddered.

“Must be as strong as an ox,” the lad muttered.  “Lucky for Stubbs he kicked at the right time and happened to land.”

“What’s your last name?” the lad demanded again.

“Haven’t any,” was the reply.

“What are you, an Albanian?”

“Yes.”

“What are you doing here?”

The man did not reply.

Stubbs had been an interesting listener to the conversation and became decidedly impatient when the dwarf refused to answer Hal’s questions.

“Why don’t you speak?” he demanded aggressively, taking a step forward.  He felt perfectly safe now that Hal had the man covered.

Instantly there was an unexpected change in the dwarf’s manner.  He stepped back a pace and bowed his head before the angry Stubbs.

“I did not know that you wished me to answer,” he replied civilly.  “I will talk to you, for you are the first man who has ever conquered me; and you are a small man, too—­a dwarf.”

“What’s that?” exclaimed Stubbs still more angrily, for “the dwarf” had touched upon a tender spot.  “Dwarf, am I?  What do you mean by talking to me like that?”

Again he took a step forward and the Albanian drew back.