this time a small crowd was gathering around. Soon a clerk of the
hotel came up hastily.

"What's the trouble here?" he questioned, anxiously.

"This boy is crazy," said Nick Smithers.

"No, I am not. This man is a swindler, and I want him arrested," came
from Nat. He made up his mind, come what might, he would stand up for
his rights.

"I am an honest man--well-known in Concord, where I keep a jewelry
establishment," puffed Nick Smithers. "This is an insult to me." He
turned to the hotel clerk. "I shall hold your hotel responsible for
this."

"I--this looks as if you were making a mistake," said the clerk to Nat.
"This gentleman has been stopping here for over a week. He is registered
on our book as Josiah Garfield."

"He has half a dozen names," said Nat. "I tell you he is a swindler."

"And I say the boy is crazy. Boy, if you say another word, I'll have you
locked up."

Nick Smithers thought Nat was so green that he would back down, but for
once he made a mistake.

"Call a policeman, please," he said to the clerk. "We can talk this over
when we get to the police headquarters."

"Are you sure of what you are doing?" asked the clerk.

"Yes, I am sure of it. I can prove beyond any doubt whatever that this
fellow is a confidence man and a swindler. He swindled me out of a
hundred dollars in New York, and he swindled several others out of the
same amount. Just help me to lock him up and I'll get all the witnesses
necessary."

"That's straight talk," came from a commercial traveler standing nearby.
"If the boy can prove what he says this man ought to be arrested by all
means."

"He can't prove a thing," answered Nick Smithers, but he began to grow
hot and cold, for he realized that Nat meant business and was not to be
overawed as easily as he had imagined.

"I'll call a cop!" piped in a newsboy who had drifted into the room. "I
see one on de corner a minit ago," and away he ran to execute his
errand.

"The police will have to settle this," said the hotel clerk. "If you
are making a mistake it will cost you dear," he added, to Nat.

"I am making no mistake," answered our hero, firmly.

This reply set Nick Smithers to thinking. To try to bluff Nat was one
thing; to prove his innocence at the police station might be quite
another.

"I can't bother to go to the station--I've got to get a train for
Boston!" he cried, and ran from the room with all of his speed.

"Stop him!" yelled Nat, and, began to gi