of the neighbourhood, I was "all over it and inside." Something clung
about my feet. By kicking myself free and then standing on it I
gained the advantage of quite an extra foot in height; I don't know
what it was and didn't care. I fought with my arms and I fought with
my legs; where I could get in with my head I did. I fought whatever
came to hand in a spirit of simple thankfulness, grateful for what I
could reach and indifferent to what was beyond me.

That the "show"--if again I may be permitted the local idiom--was not
entirely mine I was well aware. That not alone my person but my
property also was being damaged in the rear became dimly conveyed to
me through the sensation of draught. Already the world to the left of
me was mere picturesque perspective, while the growing importance of
my nose was threatening the absorption of all my other features.
These things did not trouble me. I merely noted them as phenomena and
continued to punch steadily.

Until I found that I was punching something soft and yet unyielding.
I looked up to see what this foreign matter that thus mysteriously had
entered into the mixture might be, and discovered it to be a
policeman. Still I did not care. The felon's dock! the prison cell!
a fig for such mere bogies. An impudent word, an insulting look, and
I would have gone for the Law itself. Pale Thought--it must have been
a livid green by this time--still trembled at respectful distance from
me.

Fortunately for all of us, he was not impertinent, and though he spoke
the language of his order, his tone disarmed offence.

"Now, then. Now, then. What is all this about?"