Joe Willet realized how futile had been their defence, as she saw the exultant party drive away with poor Mary in their midst, a prisoner, charged with stealing from her employer.
At the same time Mary was being taken away by Sheriff Stanyan, Larry Little, without dreaming of the ill fate which had overtaken his sister, was the central figure in a scene of most peculiar and vivid interest.
The young orator paused suddenly in the midst of his speech, and at sight of Pluto Snyder the following words issued from his lips:
“Get down there, you cow-headed——”
“Stop the fool!” cried some one, directing his remarks against the newcomer, rather than Larry.
A constable happening to stand near, and misunderstanding the real situation, he seized upon Pluto and began to drag him from the scene. The more the hapless young Snyder struggled the firmer he was held in the grasp of the officer, who showed him no mercy, but pulled him away, while the crowd cheered him for his efforts.
In a moment the quiet was restored, but Larry stood dumb with dismay, unable to know what to do.
“Go on!” cried Job Westcott. “That fellow shan’t pester you any more.”
Others urged Larry to proceed, and, like one taking a leap in the dark, he again began his speech. The well-rounded periods of the law student gone from him, Larry was obliged to depend upon himself. It was the best thing that could have happened to him. Fortunately, too, he selected a subject familiar to him, and in glowing language he pictured the lives of those lowly ones dwelling in the narrow streets and dark alleys of the great city who had never heard of a Fourth of July, much less tasted of its joys.
As he kept on, Larry really waxed eloquent, and for more than twenty minutes he held his listeners’ undivided attention.