"Oh, I'm so glad you got here!" exclaimed Ruth in a low voice, and she looked at Jack appealingly and then let her eyes rove in the direction of the bully and his crony.
"Those boys are just too horrid for anything!" murmured May, by way of explanation.
"What did they do?" demanded Spouter of his cousin, he having quickly followed Jack from the sled.
"They almost insisted upon it that we accompany them into the movies!"
"Why, they hardly know you!"
"That's true, Dick. And I think it was awful of them, the way they came up."
"That Brown boy caught me by the arm, and he had no right to do that," said Ruth to Jack. "I don't want a thing to do with him."
"You get into the sled, girls, and we'll tend to Brown and Martell," announced Spouter, and the tone of his voice showed his anger.
The girls did as bidden, being assisted by the others; and, in the meantime the remaining girls came from the store and also got into the sled. Spouter and Jack strode across the pavement, and caught Slugger Brown and Nappy Martell just as they were on the point of dropping their tickets into the ticket box.
"Come here a minute. I want to talk to you," said Spouter, catching Martell by the arm.