e, Jack," said his father
seriously. "I don't want you to grow up into a scrapper."

"But, Dad, I couldn't stand by and see that fellow abuse a poor little
peddler like that," answered the son. "It wasn't fair at all! What
right had that Nappy Martell to order the man away?"

"No right, that I know of. Jack, except that Mr. Martell owns some
stock in the company that owns this building; but that would be a very
far-fetched right at the best."

"I guess those Martells are all tarred from the same stick," was Tom
Rover's comment. "The father is just as overbearing as the son."

"Do you know what I'm inclined to think?" remarked Sam Rover, as he
walked over and closed the door to the outer office so that the clerks
might not hear what was said. "I'm inclined to think that Nelson
Martell is a good deal of a crook."

"And that's just my idea of the man, too," added Tom Rover. "What do
you think, Dick?"

At this direct question the oldest of the three brothers pursed up his
lips in concentrated thought.

"To tell the truth, I don't know exactly what to think," he answered
slowly. "Some of the things that Nelson Martell is trying to put
through are certainly rather shady. Still, they may be within the
strict letter of the law, and if that is so it would hardly be fair to
call the man a crook."

When Jack returned home, he, of course, told his cousins of his
encounter at the entrance to the office building.

"It's a pity you didn't have a chance to give Martell one in the eye or
in the nose," was Randy's comment. "Such a brute deserves to be hauled
down a peg or two."

"Well, I rather think I gave his ear a pretty good twist," answered
Jack, grinning.

"You ought to have made him pick up that bundle he flung into the
gutter," added Fred.

"I couldn't do much of anything with the crowd gathering around. My!
how the people do flock together when the least thing happens! If we
had stayed there another minute or two, we might have had a thousand
people around us."

With so many things to be thought of and done previous to the departure
for Colby Hall, the subject of Nappy Martell was soon dismissed. All
the boys were wondering what they had better put in their trunks and
suitcases.

"Gee! I've got enough stuff planned out to fill five trunks," declared
Randy. "I want to take all my clothing, and my fishing outfit, and my
football and baseball togs, and my gym suit, and I'd like to take along
my dumbbells, and my