“There was a fight.”
These and a hundred other comments and inquiries came to Allan as he threaded the crowded sidewalk; the shuffle of the policeman, with Pete and his companion behind, and a clatter and patter of a multitude of feet everywhere.
Allan was wondering whether they were going to a patrol box or directly to some station, and they were within a short distance of a cross street, when there were signs of a new and separate commotion ahead. Heads in the windows began to turn the other way, and the advance guard of the procession in which Allan had been moving had darted further ahead, and was mingling at the corner with another crowd that surged toward the same cross street.
Then it became plain that there had been another arrest somewhere. Allan could see the helmet of a policeman, the face of a man without his hat; and as they swung around the corner, the two processions almost at the same moment, Allan saw another face that looked familiar.
Yes, it was Dobbs,—Dobbs holding one arm of the man without a hat,—Dobbs, rather flushed, Allan thought, as if he had been running, or was excited. Dobbs looked across at the other crowd and saw Allan, for he laughed and waved his hand, and his lips moved, but in the hubbub Allan could not hear what he said.
The police station was in Elizabeth Street. It looked very gloomy, somehow. Dobbs was laughing again and waving his free hand, just before he turned into the doorway of the station. The crowd had grown to great proportions by this time. Allan never had suspected that so many men and women, who looked as if they might have something better to do, would take so much interest in seeing four prisoners taken into a police station. Several policemen on the sidewalk seemed to be amused; indeed, the affair appeared to be something of a joke to many people, including Pete.
“Several policemen on the sidewalk seemed to be amused.”
Allan, followed by the policeman and the two other prisoners, found his way through the police station door.
When they got in Dobbs was talking over the railing to the Sergeant at the desk. When he turned and saw Allan, he called out a cheery “Hello! Did you wonder where I went to? So you’ve been snapping an arrest, have you?”