Between two menaces, the cabman stopped his car and crouched upon the driver's seat.
He expected a shot to issue from within the cab.
The shot never came. A husky policeman dashed up to the side of the cab. With heavy hands he yanked open the door. The driver, rising, stared in that direction.
The cab was empty!
Where was the mysterious passenger? People were thronging about the cab. Drivers of other cars were running up. They were talking excitedly about the shot that they had heard; but none could offer further information.
A tall man with a hawkish face picked his way between two stopped cars, and approached the cab. He plucked the policeman's sleeve. The officer turned toward the newcomer.
"Someone left the cab," the tall man announced, in a deliberate voice. "He went out of the door on the street side. Just as the cab started forward."
A driver who had left his car some distance back came puffing up in time to hear the words.
"He's right, officer," the new arrival declared. "I thought I saw some fellow cut in front of my headlights. I couldn't trace him after that. He was headed for the opposite sidewalk. He must have gone down the street."
The statement was logical. It was obvious that the mysterious assailant would no longer be anywhere near this vicinity.