h me,"
went on Napoleon Martell, uglily. "Those peddlers are always hanging
around here and my opinion is they are all thieves."

"That fellow was no more a thief than you are," broke in Jack,
sturdily.

"Ha! Do you mean to call me a thief?"

"Come, Jack, such talk won't do down here in Wall Street," remonstrated
his Uncle Sam, who had listened closely to what had been said. Sam
Rover, from a distance, had seen the bundle flung into the gutter and
had picked it up. Both the wrapping and the string were broken, but the
contents of the package seemed to be uninjured.

"If that kid is your nephew, you had better take him in hand," grumbled
Napoleon Martell, and then, not wishing to have any more words with the
two older Rovers, he broke through the crowd which had gathered and
hurried up the street.

"Come into the building," ordered Tom Rover to Jack, for the crowd was
getting denser every instant; boys and men who had been hurrying by
stopped to find out what was the matter.

"I guess I'll have to go back to get that bundle tied up again,"
answered Jack. The encounter had excited him not a little. "Uncle Tom,
that fellow seemed to know you?"

"Yes, I know that boy. His name is Napoleon Martell, although they call
him Nappy for short. He is the son of Nelson Martell, one of our rivals
in business, a man who occupies the floor above us in this building."

"I didn't know Nappy was much of a scrapper," was Sam Rover's comment.
"I thought he was too much of a dude to fight."

"He certainly is a dude as far as appearances go," answered Jack; "but
he has the manner of a brute. I wish now I'd had the chance to give him
a good licking," he went on heartily.

"You had better go slow when it comes to fighting," returned his uncle.
"A fight seldom settles anything."

"Didn't you ever have any fights, Uncle Sam?"

At this direct question Sam Rover's face became a study while his
brother Tom looked at him rather quizzically.

"Yes! I had my share of fights when I was a boy," admitted the uncle.
"But, looking back, I think a good many of them might have been
avoided. Of course, I expect a boy to take his own part and not be a
coward. But a fight isn't always the best way to settle a difficulty."

Once back in the offices, Jack did not hesitate to tell his father
about what had happened. In the meantime, an office boy rewrapped the
bundle, securing it this time with a stout cord.

"I am sorry to hear about this troubl