retreat. But Matt was coming up the steps in a tremendous hurry, and
in ten seconds he was close enough to the boy to catch him by the
arm.

"Let go of me!" cried the boy, badly frightened.

"What have you done?" questioned Matt sternly, and without waiting for
a reply, forced the boy to accompany him into the rooms.

A glance around revealed the cause of the flood below. In one of the
rooms was a sink with city water. The water had been turned on full,
and the sink-holes stopped up with putty. The sink had overflowed, and
the water was running through several cracks in the floor.

As rapidly as he could Matt turned off the faucet. Then leaving the
water still in the sink to the brim, he dashed downstairs.

"You come with me and help me save my stock!" he cried to the boy.
"If you don't I'll hand you over to the first policeman I can find."

"Oh, please don't have me arrested!" howled the boy, almost scared out
of his wits by the threat. "I--I--didn't mean any harm!"

"You didn't mean any harm? We'll see. Come down now."

The boy hesitated, and then followed Matt into the store. Here a
portion of the stock had to be removed, and then the young auctioneer
set the boy to work mopping up the water on the counter and the
floor.

"Say, please don't have me arrested, will you?" asked the boy, almost
in tears over what he considered a very serious predicament.

"You ought to be taught a lesson," returned Matt severely. "What put
you up to the idea of letting the water overflow?"

"What Mr. Gissem said. He was awful mad after he was in here, and he
told Mr. Fillow he wished that you would burn out or that the water
pipes would burst and drown you out. Then he asked me if I couldn't
worry you a bit, and I said I'd try, and that's the truth of it."

"Well, that man ought to be cowhided!" was Matt's vigorous exclamation.
"Excuse me, but is he any relation to you?"

"Oh, no."

"Is Mr. Fillow?"

"No, neither of them."

"Then how do you come to be traveling with them?"

The boy's face took on a sober look, and he swallowed something like a
lump in his throat.

"I--I got tired of going to school and I ran away from home."

"What do you mean--" Matt stopped short as a certain thought flashed
over his mind. "Say, is your name Tom Inwold, and do you come from
Plainfield?"

At this unexpected question the boy looked at Matt in amazement, his
mouth wide open, and his eyes as big as they could well be.

"Who told