CHAPTER XVI. 

HAL ON THE WATCH. 

"Let up there, you brute!" 

Dick Ferris looked around with a startled air. 

When he caught sight of Hal his face fell, and he released the girl. 

"What, you!" he exclaimed. 

"Exactly. What do you mean by treating this girl so rudely?" 

"You are following me," went on Ferris, ignoring the question which had been put to him. 

"What if I am?" 

"You think you're smart, don't you?" sneered Ferris. 

"He's a mean, ugly thing!" put in the girl, between her sobs. "I wish he was arrested." 

"Shut up!" roared Ferris, turning to her. "You ran into me on purpose." 

"I didn't. We've got a right to coast in this alley; mamma said so." 

"You ought to be arrested for striking the little girl," said Hal. "I am awfully glad I arrived in the nick of time to save her from more punishment." 

"Good fer you, mister!" cried a small youth standing near. "Give him one in der eye!" 

"Yes, do him up, mister," cried several others. 

Ferris turned upon them like a savage animal. 

"Get out of here, every one of you," he howled, "unless you want to be hammered to death." 

"Don't you move," said Hal. "You evidently have more right here than he has." 

"Indeed!" said Ferris, turning to Hal. "I wish you would keep your nose out of my affairs." 

"Don't let him sass you, mister," put in one of the urchins. "He didn't have no cause ter hit Katie." 

Ferris pounced upon the boy at once, and cuffed him right and left. In the midst of the castication, however, Hal caught the bully by the arm, and a second later Dick Ferris measured his length in the gutter. 
Who surprised him?
Dick Ferris looked around with a startled air. 

When he caught sight of Hal his face fell, and he released the girl. 