butted me off my feet. I fell into the roadway, and at that instant
the second fellow grasped the girl by the arm and the taxicab whirled
up and stopped.

The girl's assailants seemed to be trying to force her into the cab.
One caught at her arm, the other seized her waist. The bag flew open,
scattering a shower of gold pieces upon the pavement.

And then, before I could get upon my feet again, the dog had leaped at
the throat of the man with the patch and sent him stumbling backward.
Before he recovered his balance I was at the other man, striking out
right and left.

It was all the act of an instant, and in an instant the two men had
jumped into the taxicab and were being driven swiftly away. I was
standing beside the terrified girl, while an ill-looking crowd,
gathering from God knows where, surrounded us and fought like harpies
for the coins which lay scattered about.

I laid my hands on one who had grabbed a gold piece from between my
feet, but the girl pulled at my arm distractedly. She was white and
trembling, and her big grey eyes were full of fear.

"Help me!" she pleaded, clinging to my sleeve with her little gloved
hands. "The money is nothing. I have eight thousand dollars more in
my bag. Help me away!"

She spoke in a foreign, bookish accent, as though she had learned
English at school. Fortunately for us the mob was too busily engrossed
in its search to hear her words.