Page:The Young Auctioneers.djvu/97

Rh "You are a—a brute!" exclaimed Matt, stepping forward with clinched fists.

"What's that?" cried the restaurant-keeper, so loudly that several customers and a number of the waiters gathered round to learn the cause of the trouble.

"I say you are a brute!" repeated Matt, undaunted by the fierce look the restaurant-keeper had assumed. "If you did not wish to buy from me you could have said so. There was no need for you to throw my goods in the gutter."

"Shut up and clear out!" growled the man. "I want no back talk from the likes of you. Do you suppose I buy from beggars and thieves?"

"I am neither a beggar nor a thief!" returned Matt striding still closer. "And I won't allow you nor any one else to say so."

"Oh, you won't?" sneered the man.

"No, I won't," answered Matt firmly. "My business is just as honest and honorable as yours, even though I may not make such enormous profits," he added, bound in some way to "get square."

"See here, are you going to get out, or must I pitch you out?" howled the man more savagely than ever.

For the moment Matt did not reply. He was