"Do you know him, Frank? Is he fooling us?"
"You bet he is," replied the Toyman, "and he's got all your hard-earned money in his jeans."
Then he called to the boys to "come quick," for he thought there would be trouble, and there was.
For all those men and boys in the crowd climbed up on the wagon--and they grabbed Dr. Philemon Pipp by his fine fur collar--and they made him give back their money, every last cent of it. Then, while some of them held him, the others smashed all his bottles until the black juice ran over the tailboard like a dark waterfall, and they hurled his high silk hat on the top of the lamp-post, yelling,--
"You git out of here, quick! Come, skedaddle!"
And since, in his fright, he didn't "skedaddle" fast enough to suit them, they threw beets and all sorts of vegetables at him, vegetables that had been ripe a very long time. So at last the tall Doctor with his fine fur collar--but without his silk hat--hitched up his horses with trembling fingers, and he and his helper Jake and the Red Indian drove out of town "lickety-split." You could hear the wagon-wheels rattling away long after he turned the corner.
Then the Toyman "tlucked" to Hal and they drove off, too.
"How did you know him?" Jehosophat asked, after they had trotted a little way.
"Oh, I used to know him out West. He didn't remember me, but I did him. I bought one of his bottles once."
"Is he a robber?"