"He certainly is a dude as far as appearances go," answered Jack; "but he has the manner of a brute. I wish now I'd had the chance to give him a good licking," he went on heartily.
"You had better go slow when it comes to fighting," returned his uncle. "A fight seldom settles anything."
"Didn't you ever have any fights, Uncle Sam?"
At this direct question Sam Rover's face became a study while his brother Tom looked at him rather quizzically.
"Yes! I had my share of fights when I was a boy," admitted the uncle. "But, looking back, I think a good many of them might have been avoided. Of course, I expect a boy to take his own part and not be a coward. But a fight isn't always the best way to settle a difficulty."
Once back in the offices, Jack did not hesitate to tell his father about what had happened. In the meantime, an office boy rewrapped the bundle, securing it this time with a stout cord.
"I am sorry to hear about this trouble, 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."