Page:The Young Auctioneers.djvu/168

152 swindler, you go too far. You must take back those words!" "Must I?" sneered the store-keeper. "Well, I reckon not."

"Very well, then." Matt turned to several men standing by the door. "Will one of you gentlemen kindly call in the constable or some other officer?"

"What—what do you mean?" asked Isaac Marvelling in a lower tone, and much disturbed.

"I mean to have you put out as a disorderly character, that's what I mean," returned Matt firmly. "I have paid my license, and so long as I do business on the square I do not intend to allow any one to bulldoze me or call me a swindler."

"That's right! That's right!" cried several men in the crowd, and the woman who had first spoken nodded approvingly.

"You're a mighty big boy!" sneered the storekeeper, but all noticed that he retreated several steps toward the open doorway.

"I am big enough to defend myself," replied the young auctioneer quickly. "I want you to leave. I am no more of a swindler than you are—perhaps not as much. I am conducting this business on an honest basis, and I will not stand by and let you or any one else blacken my character."

"We'll see—we'll see," muttered Isaac