“Hooray!” cried Chick, who, with Ruddy, had been an anxious witness of the preceding scene, but his cry was drowned by the uproar coming from the crowd of men and boys. “He’s killed Ralph!” shouted ’Squire Hardy. “Take him, boys!” The onlookers immediately made a rush for the intrepid youth and his two companions. For a moment it looked as if Rob would be torn limb from limb, but in order to do that it was first necessary to catch him. If Little Hickory did not possess a pair of light feet, he did own a pair of strong arms. The first boy to reach him after Ralph shared the fate of the other. The next was sent headlong to the ground at the foot of the steps leading to the store. By this time some of the crowd had rushed upon the rear, to be met by Chick and Ruddy. This twain, if small, proved themselves to be worthy of their leader. The first boy to feel their furious resistance was the tow-headed youth already mentioned, and he was doubled to the earth by their united efforts. Then they came in pairs, and so thick and fast that the doughty Chick and Ruddy soon found more on their hands than they could well handle. Finding himself so hard pressed that he was likely to be borne to the ground--crushed by an overwhelming power--Chick nimbly climbed the tall figure of a stalwart young man, where he perched himself on his shoulders, keeping his position in spite of the efforts of the other to take him off. Ruddy was scarcely less nimble, and finding himself beset by so many enemies that he could not hold his own, dodged between the legs of the nearest, sending him heels over head to the ground. A second shared his fate, and, by dodging to and fro, squirming like an eel as he passed one after another of the excited assailants, Ruddy reached the outskirts of the crowd. He might have easily escaped then, but seeing the desperate situation of Rob, to say nothing of Chick, he sprang back into the fight like a little game-cock, that never knows when it is getting the worst of it. Assailed upon every hand, Little Hickory, as valiant a battle as he was waging, sorely needed whatever assistance he could have. Regardless of what might follow, in his excitement and awakened determination to win at any cost, he sent his enemies reeling backward on either hand, fairly forcing his way through the crowd. “Don’t let the hoodlums get away!” cried ’Squire Hardy, hurrying forward to join in the fray if necessary. “He’s killed Ralph!” This announcement was enough to cause the men to take a hand in the affray, and they rushed into the exciting scene just as Rob had finally succeeded in reaching the side of Ruddy. At that moment some one threw a stone the size of a man’s fist, and the missile striking Little Hickory, he fell to the ground with a low cry of pain. “They’ve killed Rob!” cried Ruddy. “I’ll kill the hull scab of ’em!”