"What have you done with our van, and what right had you to take it away, and put yours in its place?"
Removing a cigarette from his lips the man sent a puff of smoke right into Cæsar's face, and then, with an insolent chuckle, said:
"Well, my young cock, and what are you going to do about it?"
Half-blinded and choked by the foul reek of the coarse tobacco, and roused to fury by the ruffian's insolence, Cæsar for a moment could not speak. When he did find words it was to pour out his wrath in language so biting that the man was angered in his turn, and he made as though he would strike the boy, but checked himself when Nadine screamed, and darted in between them, crying:
"Come away, Cæsar. It's no use quarreling with that fellow. We must find the gendarme. He will get us our place back again."
The man grunted scornfully. What cared he for their threat? He had the place now, and they would find it no easy matter to dislodge him.
The first thing, of course, was to find their van and animals. These were presently discovered in an obscure lane not far away, none the worse for their being moved. While assuring himself that everything was intact a daring idea flashed into Cæsar's brain. To appeal to the authorities would mean delay, and perhaps disappointment in the end, as they might have difficulty in establishing their prior right to the location. But there was another way of regaining their rights. The intruders had taken the law into their own hands, why should not the Tambys do likewise?
He at once unfolded his scheme to Nadine.
"Oh, no, Cæsar!" she exclaimed. "Don't try that. You'd certainly get into a big row. He is such a bad looking fellow."
But Cæsar was determined. They had the right on their side, and he felt confident that if there was a row, and a crowd gathered, that the sympathy would be with them, not with the ruffian, and they would regain their place.