" Jip replied penitently, making no move toward
seeking safety in flight.

"I won't have Dan fightin' in the streets, an' there's no reason now why
you should be thumped," Seth cried, speaking indistinctly because of his
efforts to hold Master Roberts in check. "Get away as quick as you can!"

"I'll go if you say the word, though I ain't certain but he'd better do
what he's tryin' for. You're a jim dandy, Seth Bartlett, an' I'll square
everythin' with you some day. I'm sleepin' in a boat up at the Erie
Basin, an' I wish you'd come there to see me; I'd like to let you know
how sorry I am for what I did."

Dan was making the most strenuous efforts to free himself from Seth's
grasp, and the latter held him captive only by the greatest exertion.

"Don't hang 'round here any longer, Jip! Get away quick, an' I'll see
you again some time."

"Will you come up to the Basin?"

"Yes, yes," Seth replied hurriedly, hardly understanding the promise he
made because of his anxiety to prevent a fight, and Jip started off
rapidly, crying as he ran:

"You're a dandy, Seth Bartlett, an' I'll pay you off for this as true as
I live!"

Not until Jip was two blocks or more away did Seth release his hold and
turn to face Dan in his wrath.

CHAPTER VI.

AN OBSTINATE DETECTIVE.

Dan was in a fine temper when Seth finally released his hold, and after
understanding that it would be useless to pursue the fugitive he turned
upon his partner savagely.

"A nice kind of a chump you are! Let a feller burn your house down, an'
then pay him fifteen cents for doin' it! After that, when I make up my
mind to give him the dose he needs, you turn against me to help him! I
s'pose that's what you call bein' a chum of mine?"

"That's exactly what it is, Dan," Seth replied soothingly. "After you've
cooled off a bit you'll be glad I didn't let you pitch into a feller who
wouldn't raise his hands."

"He didn't 'cause he don't dare."

"If a feller had any spunk about him he would dare to do all he could
while somebody else was thumpin' him. Jip feels bad for what he did to
us, an' would stand still to let you pound him; but it couldn't have
done you any good, Dan. You don't want to get the name of bein' a
bruiser."

"I'd be willin' to take 'most any kind of a name rather'n let Jip
Collins off without so much as turnin' a hair on his head!"

"That's the way you feel jest now 'cause you're off your base; but wait
a couple of hours, an' the