“Talk civil!” he advised in a moment.
“Now, Stroup,” said the officer, “don’t you go to butting into this!”
“That’s the man who let the thieves take my machine!” said Havens with suppressed passion.
“That’s too bad,” exclaimed Stroup moving nearer to the officer.
Before Havens could lift a finger or say a word to prevent, Stroup shot out a great fist which landed squarely between the eyes of the officer. The fellow went down in a huddle on the ground, but the next moment the posse he had gathered in order to back him in taking possession of the machine gathered about Havens and Stroup.
“Here, here!” shouted a man in uniform pushing through the crowd. “I arrest both of you fellows!”
“It strikes me,” Havens smiled, “that that really is the best way out of it. This mob begins to look ugly.”
The two men willingly entered the ’bus with the officer and were hastily driven to the city prison. When at last the door was closed and locked against them, Havens turned to Stroup.
“Well,” he said, “for all long-distance, ready-for-action bruisers I ever saw, you certainly take the cake! You’ve assaulted three men and got us both locked up! And yet,” he added, “I rather like it!”
Stroup blushed and grinned and said not a word.