"No, I won't," replied Mrs. Dexter sharply, to something that her husband had said.
Abner Dexter talked rapidly, a black scowl on his face meanwhile.
"No, you won't! You don't dare!" replied the woman, her voice sounding as though she had summoned all her courage by an effort.
Dexter suddenly sprang closer to the woman. The next instant both were struggling for possession of the little black bag that she carried.
"Stop!" cried Mrs. Dexter desperately. "Help! He-lp!"
"Fellows, I don't know that we're bound to stand for that," muttered Dick Prescott quickly. "She's calling for help. Come along."
Dick was off down the street like a streak, the others following, though Dave was closest to his chum.
"Here, what are you doing, mister?" demanded Dick, as he darted up to where the pair were struggling.
Dexter would have had the bag in his own possession by this time, had he not turned to see what the onrush of boys meant.
"None of your business what I'm doing," he replied savagely. "You schoolboys run along out of this."
"Don't go! Help me," pleaded the woman. "He's trying to rob me!"
"You boys clear out, or it will be worse for you!" growled Dexter.
"The lady wins!" Dick announced coolly, though he was shaking somewhat from excitement. "You let go of her and her property."
But Dexter, his face black with scowls, still clutched tightly with his right hand at the little handbag, to which Mrs. Dexter was clinging with both her hands.
"You let go of that bag," challenged Dick, "or six of us will sail into you. I think we can handle you. We'll try, anyway."
"Yes; make him let go," begged Mrs. Dexter. "I have money and jewels here, and he is trying to take them away from me."
"Going to do as the lady wishes?" inquired Dick, stepping closer.
Abner Dexter shot another angry glare at the sextette of Grammar School boys. They were closing in around him, and it looked as though they meant business.
"Gus!" called Dexter sharply.
The man who had been standing a short distance away now ran up to the spot.
"Hullo, what do you want!" asked Dick coolly. "Are you the understudy in this game of robbery?"
"I'm an officer," retorted the fellow sharply.
"Secretary to some Chinese laundry company, eh?" jeered Dick.
"I'm a police officer," retorted the man sharply, at the same time displaying a shield.
That put a different look on matters with some of young Prescott's friends. Dick, however, was a boy not easily daunted.
"If you're an officer," he inquired, "why don't you get busy and do your duty? Here's a man trying to rob his wife, just because she happens to have more money than he has."
"A man can't legally steal from his wife, nor a woman from her husband," retorted the policeman bullyingly. "There is no crime being committed here. But if you boys try to interfere you'll be disturbing the peace, and I'll run you all in."
Mrs. Dexter looked bewildered and frightened. She even let go of the handbag with one hand. Dick saw this, and quickly broke in:
"Mrs. Dexter, don't you let Mr. Dexter have that handbag unless you want to do it. We'll stand by you."
"Oh, will you?" glared the policeman. "You boys run along, or I'll gather you all in."
"Where are you a policeman?" inquired Dick Prescott, eyeing the fellow with interest. "You're not a Gridley officer, for I know every one of them."
"Never you mind where I'm from," jeered the man harshly. "I'm a policeman. That'll have to be enough for you youngsters. If you don't trot fast down the street I'll gather you in."
Some of Dick's chums were now inclined to feel that they had broken in at the wrong place, but not so their young leader.
"You haven't any right to make arrests in Gridley," retorted Dick defiantly. "And, even if you had, you couldn't stop us from defending a woman. Tom, you and Greg stand by me. Dave, you lead the rest. We'll make Dexter let go of his wife's property and let her alone. If this man who says he's an officer interferes, Greg, Tom and I will devote our attention to him!"
"Great!" snarled Dexter jeeringly. "You're all young jailbirds!"
"Are you going to let go of Mrs. Dexter's property?" challenged Dick.
"I'm not."
"Come on, fellows—let's sail into him."
Dick was an able general, having his small force under good discipline. There was a sudden rush of boys. True, they averaged only thirteen years of age, but there were six of them, and they were determined.
Dexter let go of the handbag in a hurry. He had to do so, in order to defend himself.
At the same moment the man named as "Gus" jumped into the fray.
"Three to each man!" yelled Dick, and thus the force was divided.
The self-styled policeman reached out with the flat of his hand, knocking Greg Holmes off his feet. But, as he did so, Dick dropped down in front of the man, wrapping both arms around the fellow's knees. Then Dick rose. It required the exertion of all his strength, but he succeeded in toppling Gus over onto his back.
At the same time Abner Dexter was having all he could do, for three very determined schoolboys were assailing him. At last Dexter turned to retreat, but Dan Dalzell thrust a foot before him and tripped him.
"All down!" yelled Dan. "Set 'em up in the other alley!"
Though downed for the moment, the two men were disposed to make a livelier fight of it than ever. It was a brisk, picturesque, rough-and-tumble fight that followed, in which the young boys got a deal of rough handling.
Frightened, yet fascinated, Mrs. Dexter tottered against the fence and stood looking on.
Things might yet have fared badly with Dick and his friends had not a newcomer arrived on the scene. He came running, and proved to be Policeman Whalen in uniform.
"Here! What's on?" demanded the Gridley officer. "Let up on kicking them boys! I want you!"
With that Whalen, who was a big and powerful man, grabbed Abner Dexter by the coat collar and pulled him to his feet. With this prisoner in tow, he moved up and seized Gus in similar fashion.
"Now, what's the row?" demanded Officer Whalen.
"Arrest these boys for assault!" quivered Dexter in a passion.
"Yes, arrest them!" insisted Gus. "I'm an officer, too, and I was trying to take them in."
"You didn't seem to be having very good luck at it," grinned Whalen. "But I know these boys, and they're all good lads."
"Arrest them, just the same! They were assaulting me," insisted Dexter angrily.
"And what were you doing?" insisted Whalen wonderingly.
"He was trying to steal jewels and money from his wife," interposed Dick Prescott.
"Bah!" growled Dexter. "A man can't steal from his wife."
"But he can assault her," returned Policeman Whalen. "And a man can disturb the peace with his wife, just as handily as he can anywhere else. Mrs. Dexter, are these lads telling the truth?"
"Oh, yes, officer! My husband was trying to take this satchel away from me, and he knew that it contains my jewels and thirty-five hundred dollars in cash."
"Do you want him arrested?"
"Yes; I—I'm afraid I shall have to have