The latter recognized Jack the minute he came into sight, and yelled in a loud voice:
“There he is! There he is!”
Jack immediately took to his heels again, with the crowd in full chase. And, as he rounded the next comer, he came upon the party of officers, who, unable to find him, were returning to the starting point to take up the search anew.
Jack now was caught between two fires, so to speak. For a moment he halted, as his pursuers bore down on him from two directions with shouts and yells. But his inaction lasted only a moment. His roving eyes fell upon a little alleyway across the street, and into this he dashed at full speed, his pursuers hot on his trail.
Out of the alleyway and down the next street the lad ran, those behind being left farther in the rear at almost every stride. Then, espying another narrow alleyway, and thinking to give his pursuers the slip entirely, the lad dashed into it.
Had he made his way into this narrow alleyway unseen, it is likely he would have eluded his pursuers for good and all; but he didn’t. One man rounded the corner just in time to see the lad turn, and he made after him with a shout.
Jack still had quite a lead, however, and was not disheartened; but, as he rounded a little curve in his retreat, his heart almost stopped beating, and he came to a sudden pause. For the passageway was a blind one. The lad had run up against a solid wall.
And, at the same minute the lad stopped in his flight, the first pursuer came into view again. As Jack was just about to turn and give himself up—for he knew he could not hope to fight off his pursuers—a window suddenly opened above his head, and a woman’s head was poked out.
Jack glanced up. With outstretched hands he could easily grasp the window sill. He considered a fraction of a second, then reached up, grasped the sill, and pulled himself up into the open window.
The woman, startled at the sudden apparition, drew back, and attempted to close the window; but Jack threw one leg over the sill. The window came down on it with great force; but it did not close.