the office boy and
to several of the clerks with whom he was acquainted, and then started
off for home, the bundle under his arm. He came down by one of the
several elevators to the lower corridor of the building, and there
stood in the wide-open doorway, contemplating the bustle in the narrow
street beyond. Wall Street is the financial heart of our nation, and
the activity there during business hours is something tremendous.

As Jack stood with his bundle under his arm, his attention was suddenly
attracted to what was going on close by, beyond several columns which
formed a part of the entrance to the building. In a niche of the wall
stood a peddler, a short, sallow-faced and hollow-eyed man, evidently
of foreign birth, trying to sell some cheap wares displayed on a little
three-legged stand which he had set up. In front of the peddler stood a
tall, slim, overbearing boy, loudly dressed and wearing light-colored
spats and gloves to match.

"You've got no right to plank yourself here!" cried the overbearing boy
savagely. "You get out of here or I'll dump that trash of yours into
the street."

"Please, Mister, I am a poor man," pleaded the peddler in very broken
English. "Please, Mister, you buy somet'in'?"

"You get out, I tell you!" went on the tall youth with a very lordly
air. "Get out, I tell you! You foreigners are all thieves! Get out of
here!" And without further warning he caught the thin, little peddler
by the shoulder and gave him such a shove that the man had all he could
do to keep from falling and from upsetting his little stock in trade.

CHAPTER V

GETTING READY TO LEAVE

"The mean fellow!"

Such was Jack's exclamation as he witnessed the scene between the
hollow-eyed little street peddler and the dudish, overbearing youth who
had attacked him.

"Get out, I tell you!" repeated the overbearing boy, as the peddler
straightened up and caught hold of his little stand to keep it from
tumbling over. "I've a big mind to kick your stuff into the street for
you."

"Let up there, you big boob!" cried Jack, and without stopping to think
twice he leaped towards the other youth and caught him firmly by the
arm.

The boy who had attacked the peddler had not expected such
interference, and he whirled around greatly surprised, especially when
he saw a boy smaller than himself confronting him.

"What--what do you mean by catching hold of me this way?" he stammered.

"Why can't you leave that poor