“I do,” said Stubbs, considerably pleased.  He turned to Nikol.  “Did I ever tell you about that fight?” he asked.

Nikol shook his head and eyed the little war correspondent with interest.

“Well, I did,” continued Stubbs.  “It was in Belgium.  Three of the beasts attacked me in the dark and gave me a terrific struggle.  But I killed them all, as these two boys can tell you.”

Nikol was all smiles.  He was glad that the man who had conquered him was such a royal gladiator.

“And you were not hurt?” he asked.

“Oh, nothing to speak of,” said Stubbs, modestly.  “A few scratches.  Nothing serious.”

“They are bad beasts to fool with,” said Nikol.  “My brother had both eyes scratched out in an encounter with a single wildcat.  And you killed three.”

“There wasn’t much chance of your eyes being scratched out, was there, Mr. Stubbs?” said Chester.

“And why not?” demanded the little man,

“Come now, Mr. Stubbs,” said Chester, “you don’t mean to tell me you have forgotten you were lying flat on your face dodging bullets when the cats jumped you.”

“No, I hadn’t forgotten,” said Stubbs in an injured tone.  “But was it my fault that I had stumbled over a stone in the darkness a moment before?”

“Well, no, possibly not,” Chester admitted.  “But it’s funny you didn’t think to mention that stone at the time.”

“If you are determined to laugh at me,” said Stubbs with an air of ruffled dignity, “I have nothing more to say.  Any man is likely to fall.”

“So he is, Mr. Stubbs,” agreed Chester, “and I don’t know but I’d fall myself if I saw three wildcats coming for me.  Yes, I would, and I’d try to get my head just as deep in the ground as possible, like an ostrich, and then maybe they couldn’t see me.”

For a moment Mr. Stubbs glared at the lad angrily and seemed about to speak; then turned on his heel angrily and strode to the far side of the cavern, where was the pallet which had been assigned to him.

Chester broke into a little laugh, which died suddenly as he stared down into the angry face of Nikol, which glared up at him.

There was a deep frown on the dwarf’s face and he tapped himself upon the breast with one finger as he said: 

“Any man who insults my friend, insults me.  You have cast reflections upon my friend’s courage.  He, being your friend, overlooks it; but I, the man whom he worsted in fair fight, cannot.  You must apologize.”

Here Hal interfered.  He had had such an encounter with the dwarf himself and he understood the situation.

“Hey, Stubbs!” he called.  “Come back here, quick!”

Stubbs, just about to lie down upon his pallet, hurried back.  He took in the situation at a glance and turned upon Nikol angrily.

“Here,” he cried.  “You keep out of my quarrels.  I was big enough to attend to you, I can do the same with the rest of them.”