!" cried Jones, pleasantly.

The bully and thief swung around on his heel and looked at the deckhand
in perplexity.

"Who are you?" he asked, roughly.

"Am I right? Is this Bill Hosker?"

"Dat's my handle."

"Then you are the man I want to see," said Jones and beckoned for the
others to come up.

When the street ruffian saw Randy his face changed color and he wanted
to run away, but Jones grabbed him and so did Malloy. As both were
powerful men, Hosker was as a kitten in their grasp.

"Youse fellers let me go!"

"I want you to give up the money you took from me," said Randy.

"I don't know you, young feller!"

"Yes, you do. Will you give up the money or not?"

"I ain't got no cash."

"Then you'll come to the station house with me."

"I bet yer I won't!" cried Bill Hosker.

He started to struggle when Jones hauled off and slapped him hard on
the right ear.

"Now be good, or I'll shove a few of your teeth down your throat," said
the deckhand. "This ain't no foolin' affair. Give up the boy's money
and be quick about it. If you don't give up I'll maul you so your own
mother won't know you!"

Bill Hosker was thoroughly alarmed. He did not mind going to the
station house but he did mind a good drubbing, and he saw that those
who held him were in no mood to be trifled with.

"Say, let us straighten dis t'ing out," said he at length.

"I want my money," answered Randy.

"Will yer drop de matter if I cough up de cash?"

"Yes."

"All right den. How much was it?"

"Four dollars and eighty cents."

The street ruffian pulled a small roll of bills from his pocket.

"Dare you are," he said, as he passed over five dollars. "Youse kin
keep de change."

Randy took the bills and stowed them away in his pocket.

"I'll give the change to some poor person," he said. "I want only what
is coming to me."

"Are ye done wid de rascal?" asked Malloy.

"Yes."

"Well, I'm not," answered the head deckhand.

"And neither am I," added Jones.

And then both hauled off and let Bill Hosker have it, right and left.
The street ruffian had one eye blackened and a tooth knocked out, and
went down in a heap more than dazed.

"Let that teach you a lesson," said Jones.

"It's better nor a month in jug," was Pat Malloy's comment. "The state
won't have to feed the blackguard."

Randy had already walked on and his friends joined him, and all hurried
back to the steamboat.

It was several minutes before Bill Hosker go