"You leave me to do that," said Carson Davenport. "I'm sure I know
exactly how to handle this man Rover."

"He must be a pretty shrewd fellow, Davenport. Otherwise he wouldn't be
holding such an important position in that Wall Street company,"
remarked Tate.

"I've handled men like that before. You leave it to me."

"But you don't want him to suspect anything is off color," said one of
the other men.

"I'm not so green, Jackson. I wasn't born yesterday."

"Didn't you say you thought this Rover had a lot of money?"

"Yes, the whole family has money. But, at the same time, that has
nothing to do with it. I'll tell you what I propose to do," continued
Carson Davenport earnestly. "I'll wait until I am sure that he----"

This was as much as the Rover boys heard for the time being. Around the
corner of the building from the main street had come three figures. They
had been abreast, but now they approached on the cinder path in single
file. As they came closer the lights from the restaurant fell on their
faces, and to their intense surprise the four Rovers recognized Gabe
Werner, Nappy Martell, and Slugger Brown.

CHAPTER XXI

WORDS AND BLOWS

The surprise on both sides was equal, and for a moment neither the
Rovers nor those in the other crowd uttered a word.

"What are you doing here, Jack Rover?" demanded Nappy Martell at length,
as he scowled at the youth and his cousins.

"I might ask the same question of you, Nappy," was Jack's return.

"Did you come here from that detention camp?" questioned Fred.

"That's none of your business," retorted Slugger Brown.

"You got away from us this afternoon, Gabe Werner, but you're not going
to do it this time," continued Jack, and caught the rascal by the arm.

"Hi! you let go of me," howled the bully roughly, and shoved Jack back
against the building.

At this Randy leaped forward and also caught hold of Werner. Nappy
Martell and Slugger Brown were about to jump in to the assistance of
their friend when Fred and Andy interfered.

"You leave them alone," ordered Fred, with flashing eyes. "He's one of
the meanest fellows in the world. He threw pepper in Jack's eyes and in
the eyes of Ruth Stevenson."

The loud talking so close to a window of the restaurant attracted the
attention of the men inside, and the fellow named Jake Tate thrust his
head out to see what was going on.

"Say, what do you know about this?" he exclaimed, turning to his
companions. "