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Page 41
At the same time Bill's friends joined in.
The first intimation Mike had of this was a violent blow across the
shoulders with a walking-stick. Even if he had been wearing his
overcoat, the blow would have hurt. As he was in his jacket it hurt
more than anything he had ever experienced in his life. He leapt up
with a yell, but Psmith was there before him. Mike saw his assailant
lift the stick again, and then collapse as the old Etonian's right took
him under the chin.
He darted to Psmith's side.
'This is no place for us,' observed the latter sadly. 'Shift ho, I
think. Come on.'
They dashed simultaneously for the spot where the crowd was thinnest.
The ring which had formed round Mike and Bill had broken up as the
result of the intervention of Bill's allies, and at the spot for which
they ran only two men were standing. And these had apparently made up
their minds that neutrality was the best policy, for they made no
movement to stop them. Psmith and Mike charged through the gap, and
raced for the road.
The suddenness of the move gave them just the start they needed. Mike
looked over his shoulder. The crowd, to a man, seemed to be following.
Bill, excavated from beneath the publican, led the field. Lying a good
second came a band of three, and after them the rest in a bunch.
They reached the road in this order.
Some fifty yards down the road was a stationary tram. In the ordinary
course of things it would probably have moved on long before Psmith and
Mike could have got to it; but the conductor, a man with sporting blood
in him, seeing what appeared to be the finish of some Marathon Race,
refrained from giving the signal, and moved out into the road to
observe events more clearly, at the same time calling to the driver,
who joined him. Passengers on the roof stood up to get a good view.
There was some cheering.
Psmith and Mike reached the tram ten yards to the good; and, if it had
been ready to start then, all would have been well. But Bill and his
friends had arrived while the driver and conductor were both out in the
road.
The affair now began to resemble the doings of Horatius on the bridge.
Psmith and Mike turned to bay on the platform at the foot of the tram
steps. Bill, leading by three yards, sprang on to it, grabbed Mike, and
fell with him on to the road. Psmith, descending with a dignity
somewhat lessened by the fact that his hat was on the side of his head,
was in time to engage the runners-up.
Psmith, as pugilist, lacked something of the calm majesty which
characterized him in the more peaceful moments of life, but he was
undoubtedly effective. Nature had given him an enormous reach and a
lightness on his feet remarkable in one of his size; and at some time
in his career he appeared to have learned how to use his hands. The
first of the three runners, the walking-stick manipulator, had the
misfortune to charge straight into the old Etonian's left. It was a
well-timed blow, and the force of it, added to the speed at which the
victim was running, sent him on to the pavement, where he spun round
and sat down. In the subsequent proceedings he took no part.
The other two attacked Psmith simultaneously, one on each side. In
doing so, the one on the left tripped over Mike and Bill, who were
still in the process of sorting themselves out, and fell, leaving
Psmith free to attend to the other. He was a tall, weedy youth. His
conspicuous features were a long nose and a light yellow waistcoat.
Psmith hit him on the former with his left and on the latter with his
right. The long youth emitted a gurgle, and collided with Bill, who had
wrenched himself free from Mike and staggered to his feet. Bill, having
received a second blow in the eye during the course of his interview on
the road with Mike, was not feeling himself. Mistaking the other for an
enemy, he proceeded to smite him in the parts about the jaw. He had
just upset him, when a stern official voice observed, ''Ere, now,
what's all this?'
There is no more unfailing corrective to a scene of strife than the
'What's all this?' of the London policeman. Bill abandoned his
intention of stamping on the prostrate one, and the latter, sitting up,
blinked and was silent.
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