“Which way?” queried Matt coolly.
“You rat! Out of my way!”
The auctioneer placed his hand upon the boy’s arm, with the intention of hurling him aside. But, strange to say, although he was taller than the youth, he could not budge the latter for several seconds, and by that time the young lady had disappeared, swallowed up in the noonday crowd which surged past the door.
“Now see what you have done!” stormed Caleb Gulligan wrathfully. “You have aided that young woman to escape!”
“That’s just what I meant to do,” returned Matt, 16 with a coolness that would have been exasperating to even a less sensitive man than the crusty auctioneer.
“I shall hold you responsible for it!”
“I don’t care if you do,” was Matt’s dogged reply. “She’s my friend, and I always stick up for my friends.”
At this last remark there was a low murmur of approval from those gathered about. Evidently, the boy’s unpolished but honest manner had won considerable admiration.
“Do you know that I can have you locked up?”
“What for?”