CHAPTER IV.

HAL STANDS UP FOR HIMSELF.

Hal now found himself in a tight situation. Felix Hardwick had him by the throat, and was slowly but surely choking him.

"Don't! don't!" cried Mr. Sumner, in great alarm.

"The miserable tramp!" cried Hardwick. "I'll teach him to call a gentleman a thief."

He continued his choking process, paying no attention to his employer's efforts to haul him away.

But by this time Hal began to realize that Hardwick was in earnest. He began to kick, and presently landed a blow in the book-keeper's stomach that completely winded the man.

Hardwick relaxed his hold, and Hal sprang away.

"Stop! stop!" ordered Mr. Sumner. "I will not have such disgraceful scenes in this office."

"But he intimated I was a thief," said Hardwick, trying to catch his wind.

"And he said the same of me," retorted Hal.

"So you are!"

"I never stole a thing in my life, Mr. Sumner." Hal turned to the broker. "And I am not a tramp."

"Then supposing we make it a poor-house beggar," returned Hardwick, with a short laugh.

Hal turned red. The shot was a cruel one.

"Hush! Hardwick," cried Mr. Sumner. "There is no necessity for such language."

The broker turned to Hal.

"You just made a strange statement, Carson," he said. "How do you know Mr. Hardwick contemplated robbing the safe?"

"Because I do."

"That is no answer."

"I overheard him and Mr. Allen talking about the bonds being in the safe."

"When?"

"The evening I came to New York."

Answer the following questions:
1. Did Hal turn red out of embarrassment?
2. What had Hardwick called him?
3. What else?
4. And what was the final insult?
5. Did he confess to ever stealing anything?
6. What's Mr. Sumner's profession?
7. What's Hal's last name?
8. Does Mr. Sumner appreciate profane language?
9. What's Hardwick's first name?
10. Did he contemplate committing a crime, according to Hal?
11. What type of crime?
12. What did he want to rob?
13. By himself?
14. Who did Hal overhear Felix talking to about robbing the safe?
15. What's in the safe?
16. When did Hal overhear them?
17. Where was he coming back from?
18. What had Felix been doing to Hal when Mr. Sumner intruded?
19. Does Felix think of himself as a gentleman?

Numbered answers:
1. yes
2. a thief
3. miserable tramp
4. poor-house beggar
5. no
6. broker
7. unknown
8. no
9. Felix
10. yes
11. thieving
12. the safe
13. yes
14. Mr. Allen
15. bonds
16. evening
17. New York
18. had him by the throat
19. yes