All of the boys were curious to know what the former bully of Putnam Hall might have to say for himself and they strode over to the bench upon which Sobber and the man in brown were sitting. They came up behind the pair. "I can't give you any money, Cuffer," they heard Tad Sobber say. "You'll have to wait till my Uncle Sid gets here." "When will he get to New York?" "To-morrow." "That fellow is Cuffer, the man who ran away from us at the old mill!" cried Dick. "Let us catch him and hand him over to the police," returned Tom. In his excitement he talked rather loudly and this attracted the attention of Cuffer and Tad Sobber. "The Rovers!" cried Sobber, leaping to his feet in consternation. "How did they get down to New York?" "Who did you say?" questioned Cuffer, and then looking at the three youths his face blanched. "We must get away from here, and be quick about it!" He started to run and Dick and Sam went after him. The chase led to the lower end of the little park, and then Cuffer crossed Fourteenth street, and amid the crowd bound homeward for the day, pushed his way in the direction of the Third Avenue elevated railroad station. In the meantime Tad Sobber started to run in another direction. But before he had taken a dozen steps Tom was on him and had him by the arm. "Stop, Sobber," he said shortly. "I won't! You let me go, Tom Rover." "I'll not let you go," answered Tom, firmly. "And if you don't stand still I'll call a policeman and have you arrested." CHAPTER IX A CHASE ON THE BOWERY Tom's threat to have Tad Sobber arrested caused the former bully of the school to pause and turn pale. "You--er--you don't mean that," he faltered. "You can't have me arrested." "We'll see about that, Sobber." "I haven't done anything wrong." "Then why did you run away from Putnam Hall?" "I had a right to leave. Captain Putnam wasn't treating me fairly." "You ran away on account of that snake affair--you can't deny it." "Humph!" "That snake nearly killed Nick Pell. He isn't over it yet, altogether." "Bah! It wasn't the snake made Nick sick. He wasn't feeling well some days before the snake bit him." "It was the snake and nothing else put him in bed," answered Tom, warmly. "And that is not all. You are in league with your uncle, who robbed my uncle of those traction company bonds." "I--er--I don't know anything about that matter," answered Sobber, hastily. "Well, I know all about it. You were with your uncle when he got away from us, and when he dropped the pocketbook containing the bonds." "Did you get the bonds back?" asked Sobber, with sudden interest. It may be added here that Sid Merrick had gone back long after the chase to look for the pocketbook, but, of course, had been unable to get any trace of it. "We did."