“Reckon he lost a bunch of money by not getting his little scheme through, so, if he should happen to discover us we’re out of luck.”

“And how!”

“Reckon we’d better leave Mills and get away from here as fast and as far as we can. Shouldn’t like to run into that lad—he’d be mighty ugly and we’d have no choice but to use the guns and not miss.” They both glanced over again, and then caught their breaths sharply.

The man from Montego had stopped in his tracks, while Mills, suddenly appeared in front of him. The insane fellow’s hand shot out, he grabbed the food, stuffed it into his mouth ravenously, but instead of realizing how desperately hungry he was, the Montegoean furiously resented losing his meal and landed a resounding punch on Mills’ head. While he used one hand for the food, Mills grabbed the other by the front of his shirt, backed him as easily as if he had been a small boy, toward his own fire. Twice he planted kicks in the other’s legs, and his powerful hand was twisting the cloth tightly about his throat. Desperately the fellow tried to free himself, kicked and struck with his hands, then suddenly he filled the air with shrill shrieks of terror, but these were promptly choked off and he was backed more swiftly. In an incredibly short space of time they were both at the edge of the cliff, then Mills raised his victim, shook him as if he were a rat, then with a powerful punch, hurled him out into space.

Something went flying over the Buddies’ heads and they glanced up in time to see a small figure rushing down among the rocks. He did not appear to notice the boys, but raced recklessly over the steep incline, leaped down the wall, and leaped like a mad animal across the terrace. The commotion he made seemed to pass unobserved by Mills, who was calmly raking the fire and helping himself to the food which had been left.

“Great Scott, that’s the dwarf,” Bob exclaimed, and sure enough the twisted figure was even more unmistakable than his master.

The dwarf leaped at Mills, who rose just as the rush was made, but his feet were planted firmly, well apart. He did not permit his meal to be interrupted by the attack, but caught the little man much as he had the bigger one. However, instead of hurling him over the cliff, he spread him out face down on the ground and proceeded to sit on him. The dwarf struggled, kicked, bit and screamed but his efforts were futile.

“I’ve read that an insane man has the strength of half a 

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