He took the whip, and the next moment it had whistled through the air, and caught the bully a stinging lash right across the face.

At the sound of the crack of the lash the horses started forward, and in a moment the carriage was spinning away over the dusty road, followed by roars of laughter from Lord Claud's friends, and by roars of a different character from the indignant and outraged bully.
"You will have to shoot those fellows one of these days," remarked Lord Claud coolly.

"They are becoming a nuisance.

Men who are a nuisance ought to be put out of the way.

London would be well rid of them." "They have been mine enemies from the very outset," said Tom, "from the day when first we met, and you came to my rescue when they were baiting me.