This was Al's first experience with one of the class known in New York as "night-hawks," and for a moment he hesitated. Imagining that he had gained an advantage, the man added: "Now, look lively! I've got something else to do besides standing here chinning with you." "Yes," said the boy, quietly, "you have. On second thoughts, I'll keep your cab a little longer. Drive me to the nearest police station." The man stared at him, then asked, rather uneasily: "What for?" "So that I can find out just what I ought to pay you. It won't take either of us long to get the information." The night-hawk saw that he had, for once, met his match. "See here, young gent," he said, "I don't want no trouble with you." "If there is any trouble, you will bring it on yourself," responded the boy. "I've got no time to waste. Give me a V and I'll call it square." "I'll give you nothing of the sort." "What will you pay, then?" "Two dollars is quite enough." "Make it three, boss." "I can't do it," said Al, who saw that he had by luck hit upon about the right price. "Will you take two, or will you go with me to the nearest police station and let them settle the matter there?" "Give me the two," said the man, sullenly. "I'll take it, but I'm losing money on the job. If I'd stayed up at the station I might have picked up----" "You might have picked up a bigger greenhorn than you did," added Al. "Well, I'll wish you good-morning." He was about to turn away when a heavy hand was laid on his shoulder, and a familiar voice exclaimed: "Well, this is luck. I didn't expect to find you as easy as all this." "Oh, it's you, is it?" cried Al, recognizing the friendly brakeman who had loaned him the money. "I'm mighty glad I ran across you." "You are, eh?" sneered the man. Al looked at him in surprise. "Yes, I was going to hunt you up." "Oh, you were?" "Of course I was. I wanted to explain to you why I left you so suddenly. You must have thought----" "I thought the truth--that I had been made the victim of a swindler. I made up my mind that I would hunt you up, but I didn't expect to find you quite so soon; that was blind luck." "See here," said Al, his anger rising, "you are going a little too far. I was, and am, much obliged to you for lending me that money, but I----" "Lending nothing," interrupted the cabman, who had been a silent listener to the conversation. "Why, the young villain has just been telling me how he euchered a brakeman up at the Grand Central out of a wad." "It is a lie!" burst from the lips of the indignant boy, and he advanced toward the treacherous fellow with clinched fists. But the cabman retreated and leaped upon his box. "If I didn't have my cab here," he said, as he gathered up the reins, "I'd teach you to call me a liar. Boss"--to the brakeman--"you're in luck to find the young rascal so easy. Don't let him off; I know him well, and, in spite of his innocent looks, he is one of the toughest youngsters in the city."