want any of your impudence

  "Don't you? You ain't the city government, are you?"   "I don't want any of your impudence. Clear out!"   "Clear out yourself!"   "I'll give you a lickin'!"   "Perhaps you will when you're able."   Jack spoke manfully; but the fact was that the other boy probably was able, being three years older, and as many inches taller.   Jack kept on crying his papers, and his opponent, incensed at the contemptuous disregard of his threats, advanced toward him, and, taking Jack unawares, pushed him off the sidewalk with such violence that he nearly fell flat. Jack felt that the time for action had arrived. He dropped his papers temporarily on the sidewalk, and, lowering his head, butted against his young enemy with such force as to double him up, and seat him, gasping for breath, on the sidewalk. Tom Rafferty, for this was his name, looked up in astonishment at the unexpected form of the attack.   "Well done, my lad!" said a hearty voice.   Jack turned toward the speaker, and saw a stout man dressed in a blue coat with brass buttons. He was dark and bronzed with exposure to the weather, and there was something about him which plainly indicated the sailor.