As Johnson Boller observed, sighing heavily and shaking his head as he observed it, the young man was downright scared now. An older citizen would have spoken his candid thoughts to Anthony Fry, doubtless, and chilled him back to reason; but this one drew away from Anthony until he b.u.mped into Johnson Boller, turned hastily and asked the latter"s pardon and then gazed at Anthony with eyes which, if not filled with terror, certainly held a quant.i.ty of somewhat amused apprehension.
He shook his head determinedly and seemed to be seeking words, and as he sought them a new element entered the situation. The red-faced person just behind Anthony Fry, having gazed suddenly from the youngster to the maker of theories, lurched forward suddenly and spoke:
"Let that kid alone!"
"Eh?" Anthony said amazedly.
Johnson Boller leaned forward quickly.
"Stop right there, Anthony!" he hissed. "Don"t answer him!"
"Why on earth shouldn"t I answer him?" Anthony snapped.
"You keep out of it, young feller!" the red-faced one told Johnson Boller, and one saw that his honest rage was rising fast. "He"s gotter let that kid alone!"
"Well, confound your impudence, sir!" Anthony began. "I----"
"None o" that stuff!" the total stranger said hotly. "You cut out picking on the kid or I"ll step on your face."
And here his redder-faced companion leaned forward and demanded thickly:
"Woddy do ter kid, Joe? Huh? Wozzer matter--huh? Wozzer trouble "th you--huh?"
Johnson Boller was on his feet and in the aisle, perturbed and still able to see how the unexpected had been planned for his especial benefit.
"This is where we get off, Anthony," he said briefly, "I could smell it coming. Come along."
"Is there going to be a fight here?" the boy in the chair between asked, with a quant.i.ty of eager excitement.
"If I know the signs, ten seconds hence this spot is going to look like a detail of the Battle of the Marne," said Mr. Boller. "And you want to get out of it quick or you"ll be hurt, kid. You scoot right down that way, the way you came, and get clear of the crowd before it starts."
He pointed. He waited. But the boy did not start.
Who, in the calmer afterward, shall explain just how these gunpowder situations develop, grow instantaneously incandescent, and explode?
The atmosphere was one of physical battle; the red-faced gentlemen were filled with alcoholic spirits; yet who shall say just why the red-faced man, his friend stumbling against him, gained the impression that Anthony Fry had struck him a coward"s blow from behind? Or why, with a roar of incoherent fury, he aimed a dreadful punch at Anthony himself, standing there quite collected if somewhat paler?
That is what happened, although by no means all that happened. The unfortunate spot came three seconds later when Anthony, side-stepping the alcoholized jab, threw up his hands to fend off the jabber"s whole swaying person--threw them, all unwittingly, so that his right fist settled squarely on a red nose, drawing therefrom a magic spurt of blood!
After that, for a little, nothing was very clear. Three sets of fists began to hammer in Anthony"s general direction; three throats shouted--and three hundred took up the shout.
Men came tumbling toward Box B and into it. A large person in bright blue shirt-sleeves, with a derby on the back of his head, received the third blow intended for Anthony and returned it with interest, just as that startled person was jammed against the rail.
From three different points, high-held night-sticks were pushing through the surging crowd; and Johnson Boller, looking quickly at the storm center, counted no less than eleven separate couples pounding one another, and smiled as he jerked Anthony bodily over the rail and hissed:
"Come on, you poor lunatic! Come on!"
"Johnson, upon my soul----" Anthony began.
"Never mind your soul! Get your body out of here before the cops find it and club it to death for starting this rumpus!" Mr. Boller cried agitatedly. "Look at that sergeant, Anthony! He"s got his eye on you and he"s fighting his way over here! Now, you scoot down there, kid! Move!
Quick, before----"
"No! Come with us, boy!" Anthony said, somewhat disconcertingly.
"What for?" the boy inquired. "I want to watch this."
"You stay and watch it by all means!" Johnson Boller smiled quickly.
"You"re perfectly safe, youngster; I was only fooling. Now you come this way, Anthony, and----"
Anthony, unperturbed, laid a kindly hand on the youngster"s shoulder.
"You"d better come with us, my son," said he. "They"ll run you in for a witness and you may be locked up for a week unless you have friends to get you out."
This time he had startled the young man. Wide eyes turned and stared at him and there was a distinct note of fright in the voice that said:
"What do you mean? Arrest me?"
"Of course, if you stay here," Anthony said. "Come with me and I"ll take care of you."
And then Johnson Boller had caught his arm and was dragging him away; and Anthony, catching the willing arm of the boy, was dragging him after. Around the side of the ring they sped, where an interested group of fighters and trainers watched the melee; and, veering, on through a small side door and into the night.
"Here"s where the taxis wait," Mr. Boller said quickly. "Now, you beat it straight down the street, kid, and----"
"We"ll take this one," Anthony interrupted, as he jerked open the door and thrust his bewildered charge inward. "Tell the man to take us home, Johnson."
Johnson Boller complied with a grunt, slamming the door viciously as he plumped into his own seat. The kid, prospective victim of Anthony"s latest notion, was still with them--and he seemed contented enough to be there for the present. The possibility of arrest had jarred the youngster more than a little, and he hunched down on the little forward seat and breathed quite heavily. And now Anthony"s deep, kindly voice was addressing him with--
"You"ll come home with me for a little while, youngster?"
Mr. Boller drew a long, resigned breath and prepared to back the boy in every objection his doubtless normal mind should offer--but they chanced to pause by an arc lamp just then and he caught the boy"s expression.
It was really a queer thing to see. No fear was there at all now, but only the overwhelming, innocent curiosity of youth, mingled with an inscrutable something else. One might have called it a daredevil light, breathing the young craving for adventure, but Johnson Boller, with an unaccountable shudder, felt that it was not just that.
To save him, he could not have named the quality; he sensed it rather than actually saw it, but it was there just the same--an ominous, mocking, speculative amus.e.m.e.nt that had no place at all in the eye of an elevator boy when looking at the wealthy, dignified Anthony Fry. The boy"s fine teeth showed for a moment as he asked:
"Pardon me, but what"s it all about? Why under the sun should I go home with you?"
"Because I want to talk confidentially to you for an hour."
"You"re not judging from these togs that I"m a criminal, are you?" the boy grinned, and it seemed to Johnson Boller that the tone was far too cultivated for the clothes.
"What?"
"I mean, you don"t want any one murdered, or anything of that kind?"
Anthony laughed richly.
"By no means, my dear boy. As to what it is all about I"ll tell you when we get there. You"ll come?"