"Give him air!" Bruce commanded, lifting the man in his arms and stepping toward a drug-store on the corner.
Some of the crowd streamed after Browning, but by far the greater number remained to watch the antics of the automobile.
The man inside was fumbling at the door and trying to get out. The misguided auto climbed the curbing and tried to butt down the wall of a store building.
"Give it some climbin'-irons!" yelled a newsboy.
The automobile, with its front wheels pressed against the wall, began to rear up like a great black bug, determined apparently to scale the perpendicular side of the building and enter through one of the open windows above. As soon as he saw the motorman pitched into the gutter, Merriwell moved toward the carriage.
"Time to take a hand in this!" was his thought. "There will be more hurt, if I don't!"
He leaped to the step, but before he could mount to the high seat the auto was butting blindly against the wall.
"He's goin' ter shut off the juice!" squeaked the newsboy.
What the trouble had been with the levers Merry did not know. When he took hold of them, the hansom became manageable and obedient. He shut off the electricity, and the front wheels dropped down from the wall. The next moment he swung to the ground and opened the door.
To his surprise, the man who emerged from the carriage was Dunstan Kirk, the leader of the Yale ball-team.