save for some grinning chauffeurs, who offered no assistance.

"Be a good fellow. I insist, my dear Nobel. Advance! Double quick!
Charge!"

The two men moved away haltingly, then at a zigzag trot, and
finally at a slow run. They disappeared around the corner, Bob
Wharton leading, Bergman bent double and screaming poisonous
oaths.

"Drive on, quickly," Lorelei implored, but the chauffeur cranked
his motor reluctantly, craning his neck in an evident desire to
see more of this interesting affray. His companions were laughing
loudly and slapping their thighs. Despite Lorelei's hysterically
repeated orders, he experienced difficulty in starting the
machine; finally he lifted the hood and fumbled inside. A moment
passed, then another; he cranked once more, but as the motor was
seized with a fit of shuddering the two white-fronted figures
turned the upper corner and approached. Their relative positions
were unchanged. The block was a short one, yet they seemed winded.
Bergman was sobbing now like a woman, and he was followed by three
curious newsboys.

Bob paused at the starting-point and wheezed: "Bravo! You done
noble, Nobel. We've learned some new steps, too, eh?" All power of
resistance had left the victim, who seemed upon the verge of
collapse. "I say we've learned some new steps; haven't we, Bergy?"
He tweaked the distorted member in his grasp, and Bergman's head
wagged loosely.