The Dolores star., 1916-04-07

/
within. he could still hear Hills voic<
shouting directions which. however
were unintelligible to his distracted At
tention. Somewhere near by. Beau
Jeans string of rough oaths roared
upon the turmoil, and Lovejoy began
yelping for the police. At this latteI
cry there was q slight wavering among
their unknown assailants. but 1t waa
quickly mended by a new onrush.
The men who had been working al
the ship now left their tasks and
Joined the fracas on general prin'
ciples. siding with neither party. but
laying about them with vigor and q
splendid lack of discrimination. But II
was already quite fierce struggle. and
Pedro very soon began to find 1t dim.
cult to keep his feet. The man with
whom he was confronted had an over.
whelming advantage in height and
weight, while Pedro was slight and
soft, and. truth to tell, rather badly
frightened. II only he could manage
to keep the fellow from knocking him
out till Beau-Jean and Lovejoy man.
aged to win. or the police arrived. But
what II he should fail?
1t seemed as though they had an
army against them. though az a mat.
ter Of fact, there were not more than
ten In all. Twice he with difficulty
suppressed the temptation to call upon
his friends for help. and with sobbing
indrawn breath fought on wildly. elu.
sively. striving desperately to prevent
his opponent from graphing with him.
A solitary policeman Ia night rounds
mani had come up. Pedro could hear
him shouting above the din. but his
efforts at establishing order we're alb
solutely Intellectual.
By now Pedro was fast losing
strength. 1t seemed to him that at any
instant he must succumb, and sink to
the ground. Only q horror Of being
trampled on sustained him, and his
head was growing light. Then his an
tagonist. who was bent upon his in.
Jury or capture. Infatuated at being
held OF so long by this mere slip of
a boy. managed to get leg hold upon
Pedro. 1t was too much, and the boys
"Au soucceur!" he screamed. "A
moi. Beau-Jean! Au soucceur!"
Then somehow. he never quite knew
in what manner, the giant was beside
him, and the black menacing shape of
the other man hurled through space
and landed among his fellows, scatter
ing the fighters for an instant Then
Hills voice arose again, and this time,
Pedro, leaning breathless and painting
against the house, heard and under
stood.
open the window" Hill was yell
ing. Its fastened from the outside
Open the window"
With aching arms. Pedro strove to
obey. but the heavy iron bar that held
the galvanized shutters closed, re-
sisted his effort. Beau-Jean, mean
while. was q veritable windmill, and
one Of the stevedores had ranged him
self beside the Frenchman, feeling, no
doubt, that 1t was desirable to fight
with, rather than against, this power
full person.
open the window!" yelled Hill
ceaselessly. Pedro bent all his strength
to another effort, and at the same mo.
ment there came to his ears the rap.
ping of the lone policeman's club upon
the pavement. a signal that was not
wholly without effect upon the entire
crowd. Again the heavy iron bar OF
the shutter lifted an inch or two, and
again it slipped back into its socket
Then some one struck him upon the
shoulder and turning to defend him
self, he looked up into the fat dripping
face Of Mr.. Lovejoy.
God bless mel" pulled that worthy
that was a near thing! Thought you
was the enemy!" Pedro managed to
gasp:
THE shutter-bar! Help mel"
In the twinkling # an eye the heavy
iron lath had been extracted and wal
being brandished over the lunch-wag
oner's head, a deadly weapon thai
swept a space clear about the window
which now burst open to emit the dis
heveled furious figure Of Samuel Hill
who was armed with an improviset
cudgel, evidently the leg OF a tabl.
taken from the furnishings of hii
prison.
United we etand!" he shouted
springing into the fight with relish
Then came a cry that was echoed OF
all sides.
THE reserves, the reserves, the pc
licel" and the crowd began to scatter
Almost as magically as they haa
been surrounded, they were left alone
but now, to be SO left was fraught witt
almost as many dangers as had bese
them a moment sooner; for that tn,
police should not lay hands upon then
was the paramount thought In tn
minds of all. Hill was the first to act
This way!" he called, darting OF
toward an ill-lighted. ill-paved street
flanked only by poster-covered fences
By great good luck the rescue part,
managed to escape pursuit, and in les
|