Tex, dazed, but wise enough to stand quiet, felt his belt tear loose and drop to his feet, felt a spur rip from its strap and saw his cigarette leap from his lips.

Throwing the guns to Red, Hopalong laughed and abruptly turned and was lost in the crowd.
For several seconds there was silence, but when the dazed minds realized what their eyes had seen, there arose a roar which shook the houses in the town.

Roar after roar thundered forth and was sent crashing back again by the distant walls, sweeping down on the discomfited dude and causing him to slink into the crowd to find a place less conspicuous.

He was white yet and keen fear gripped his heart as he realized that he had come to the carnival with the expressed purpose of killing his enemy in fair combat.

The whole town knew it, for he had taken pains to spread the news.
The woman he had been with knew it from words which she had overheard while on her way to the grounds with him.