CHAPTER XXV A VICTORY FOR RANDY

 One day Randy was out in Albany buying a new pair of shoes when he met Rose Clare, who was also doing some shopping for her mother.

 

"Oh, Randy, how do you do!" cried the girl, running up and shaking hands.

 

"Very well, Rose," he answered. "You look well."

 

"Oh, I am feeling splendid."

 

"It did you good to get out of New York."

 

"Indeed it did, and mamma is ever so much better too."

 

"I am glad to hear that. Do you like it at Captain Hadley's home?"

 

"Yes, mamma and Mrs. Hadley have become great friends."

 

"Do you go to school?"

 

"Yes. And, oh, I 'most forgot to tell you. I got a letter from New York to-day. It was from another girl, one who lived in the house with us. She says Bill Hosker has come back to that neighborhood."

 

"To stay?"

 

"She says he is around every night."

 

"Then I am going to hunt him up."

 

"Oh, Randy, please don't get into any more trouble," pleaded Rose.

 

"He has got to give back my money, or take the consequences."

 

"You know what a ruffian he is!"

 

"I will be on my guard this time, Rose, and maybe I'll take a friend along," added our hero.

 

When he returned to the steamboat he told Jones about what he had heard. Jones was now feeling very well once again, and he readily volunteered to go with Randy and hunt up Hosker as soon as the boat got to the metropolis². Then Pat Malloy got wind of what was up and said he would go too.

 

"It's no use of going to the police wid such a mather," said the head deckhand. "We'll bring the rascal³ to terms ourselves."

 

It was a clear, cool night when the landing was made at New York. The deckhands hurried through their labors⁴ and then made off for the neighborhood where Randy had been attacked.

 

"Here is the spot where I was first robbed," said our hero, and pointed⁵ it out.

 

They walked around the neighborhood for nearly an hour, and were growing somewhat disheartened when Randy gave a cry:

 

"There he is!"

 

"You are sure?" asked Jones.

 

"Yes."

 

"Let me speak to him first. Then we'll know there ain't no mistake," went on Jones.

 

Randy was willing and he and Malloy dropped behind.

 

Bill Hosker had just come out of a saloon and was wiping off his mouth with the back of his hand. He turned down a side street.

 

"Hullo there, Bill Hosker!" cried Jones, pleasantly.

 

The bully⁶ and thief swung around on his heel and looked at the deckhand in perplexity.

 

"Who are you?" he asked, roughly.

 

"Am I right? Is this Bill Hosker?"

 

"Dat's my handle."

 

"Then you are the man I want to see," said Jones and beckoned⁷ for the others to come up.

 

When the street ruffian saw Randy his face changed color and he wanted to run away, but Jones grabbed him and so did Malloy. As both were powerful men, Hosker was as a kitten in their grasp.

 

"Youse fellers let me go!"

 

"I want you to give up the money you took from me," said Randy.

 

"I don't know you, young feller!"

 

"Yes, you do. Will you give up the money or not?"

 

"I ain't got no cash."

 

"Then you'll come to the station house with me."

 

"I bet yer I won't!" cried Bill Hosker.

 

He started to struggle when Jones hauled off and slapped him hard on the right ear.

 

"Now be good, or I'll shove a few of your teeth down your throat," said the deckhand. "This ain't no foolin' affair. Give up the boy's money and be quick about it. If you don't give up I'll maul you so your own mother won't know you!"

 

Bill Hosker was thoroughly⁸ alarmed. He did not mind going to the station house but he did mind a good drubbing, and he saw that those who held him were in no mood to be trifled with.

 

"Say, let us straighten dis t'ing out," said he at length.

 

"I want my money," answered Randy.

 

"Will yer drop de matter if I cough up de cash?"

 

"Yes."

 

"All right den⁹. How much was it?"

 

"Four dollars and eighty cents."

 

The street ruffian pulled a small roll of bills from his pocket.

 

"Dare you are," he said, as he passed over five dollars. "Youse kin¹ keep de change."

 

Randy took the bills and stowed them away in his pocket.

 

"I'll give the change to some poor person," he said. "I want only what is coming to me."

 

"Are ye done wid de rascal?" asked Malloy.

 

"Yes."

 

"Well, I'm not," answered the head deckhand.

 

"And neither am I," added Jones.

 

And then both hauled off and let Bill Hosker have it, right and left. The street ruffian had one eye blackened and a tooth knocked out, and went down in a heap more than dazed.

 

"Let that teach you a lesson," said Jones.

 

"It's better nor a month in jug," was Pat Malloy's comment. "The state won't have to feed the blackguard."

 

Randy had already walked on and his friends joined him, and all hurried back to the steamboat.

 

It was several minutes before Bill Hosker got up. "I'd like ter kill dem fellers!" he muttered.

 

He hurried for the nearest saloon, where he tried to drown his troubles in drink. In the saloon were several who knew him, and one man jeered¹⁰ him because of the black eye. This brought on another quarrel, and as a consequence both men were pushed out of the drinking resort. They continued to fight on the sidewalk, until a policeman came along and tried to stop them. Then Hosker attacked the officer, and as a consequence was placed under arrest. The next day he was brought up in court and sentenced to a year in prison for his misdeeds.

 

"I don't think he'll forget us," said Jones, as the steamboat was reached.

 

"Maybe he will lay for us," said Randy.

 

"Well, we can kape our eyes open," put in Pat Malloy.

 

"I shall not visit that neighborhood again," said our hero. "Now I have my money back I am satisfied."

 

"New York has altogether too many such toughs," put in Jones. "The police ought to clean them all out. When I first came here I was attacked in my boarding place on the Bowery."

 

"Were you robbed?"

 

"The fellow tried to rob me, but he didn't succeed. I played a neat trick on him."

 

"What did you do?"

 

"I had a roll of bills and these I placed in an inside pocket. I also had an imitation bank-bill—one of these advertisements you often see. Well, I took a small roll of paper and put the imitation bill around it, and put the roll in my vest pocket. The would-be thief got the roll and ran off with it."

 

"He must have been angry when he saw how he had been duped," laughed Randy.

 

"I didn't see that fellow again for nearly six months. Then I met him on the steamboat where I was working. When he saw me he sneaked¹¹ out of sight in a hurry, I can tell you."

 

"Did you follow him up?"

 

"I tried to, but I didn't see him again until we were making a landing. Then I tried to grab him, but he slipped me in a crowd and went ashore¹² as fast as his legs could carry him," concluded the deckhand.

1 kin   

n.家族，亲属，血缘关系；adj.亲属关系的，同类的

参考例句：

• He comes of good kin.他出身好。
• She has gone to live with her husband's kin.她住到丈夫的亲戚家里去了。

2 metropolis   

n.首府；大城市

参考例句：

• Shanghai is a metropolis in China.上海是中国的大都市。
• He was dazzled by the gaiety and splendour of the metropolis.大都市的花花世界使他感到眼花缭乱。

3 rascal   

n.流氓；不诚实的人

参考例句：

• If he had done otherwise,I should have thought him a rascal.如果他不这样做，我就认为他是个恶棍。
• The rascal was frightened into holding his tongue.这坏蛋吓得不敢往下说了。

4 labors   

v.努力争取(for)( labor的第三人称单数 )；苦干；详细分析；（指引擎）缓慢而困难地运转

参考例句：

• He was tiresome in contending for the value of his own labors. 他老为他自己劳动的价值而争强斗胜，令人生厌。 来自辞典例句
• Farm labors used to hire themselves out for the summer. 农业劳动者夏季常去当雇工。 来自辞典例句

5 pointed   

adj.尖的，直截了当的

参考例句：

• He gave me a very sharp pointed pencil.他给我一支削得非常尖的铅笔。
• She wished to show Mrs.John Dashwood by this pointed invitation to her brother.她想通过对达茨伍德夫人提出直截了当的邀请向她的哥哥表示出来。

6 bully   

n.恃强欺弱者，小流氓；vt.威胁，欺侮

参考例句：

• A bully is always a coward.暴汉常是懦夫。
• The boy gave the bully a pelt on the back with a pebble.那男孩用石子掷击小流氓的背脊。

7 beckoned   

v.（用头或手的动作）示意，召唤( beckon的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He beckoned to the waiter to bring the bill. 他招手示意服务生把账单送过来。
• The seated figure in the corner beckoned me over. 那个坐在角落里的人向我招手让我过去。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 thoroughly   

adv.完全地，彻底地，十足地

参考例句：

• The soil must be thoroughly turned over before planting.一定要先把土地深翻一遍再下种。
• The soldiers have been thoroughly instructed in the care of their weapons.士兵们都系统地接受过保护武器的训练。

9 den   

n.兽穴；秘密地方；安静的小房间，私室

参考例句：

• There is a big fox den on the back hill.后山有一个很大的狐狸窝。
• The only way to catch tiger cubs is to go into tiger's den.不入虎穴焉得虎子。

10 jeered   

v.嘲笑( jeer的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The police were jeered at by the waiting crowd. 警察受到在等待的人群的嘲弄。
• The crowd jeered when the boxer was knocked down. 当那个拳击手被打倒时，人们开始嘲笑他。 来自《简明英汉词典》

11 sneaked   

v.潜行( sneak的过去式和过去分词 )；偷偷溜走；（儿童向成人）打小报告；告状

参考例句：

• I sneaked up the stairs. 我蹑手蹑脚地上了楼。
• She sneaked a surreptitious glance at her watch. 她偷偷看了一眼手表。

12 ashore   

adv.在(向)岸上，上岸

参考例句：

• The children got ashore before the tide came in.涨潮前，孩子们就上岸了。
• He laid hold of the rope and pulled the boat ashore.他抓住绳子拉船靠岸。