While he was running along at the top of his speed, intent on getting out of hearing of the footsteps that seemed to be pursuing him, he suddenly became aware that there was something exciting going on in advance of him. He stopped to listen, and the blood seemed to curdle in his veins when he heard the sounds of a fierce struggle and a faint, gasping cry for help.
He looked in the direction from which the sounds came, and by the aid of the light from a gas-lamp, a short distance behind him, he could distinguish the forms of three men, who, clasped in a close embrace, were swaying back and forth, and so near the edge of the wharf that a single misstep on the part of one of them would have precipitated them all into the water.
“Another free fight,” thought Guy, whose first impulse was to turn and take to his heels. “These sailors are a dreadful set, and I’ll not stay among them a day longer.”
“Help! help!” shouted one of the men, his cry being almost instantly choked off by a strong grasp on his throat.
“Give up the money,” said a hoarse voice, “or over you go.”
A light suddenly dawned upon Guy’s mind; he begun to understand the matter now.
Two ruffians had set upon somebody with the intention of robbing him and throwing him into the harbor, and he was fighting hard for his life and property. Instantly Guy’s tongue was loosed, and he begun shouting at the top of his voice:
“Police! police!” he yelled. “Fire! murder! help!”
“There, we’re discovered,” exclaimed one of the robbers. “Let’s throw him over and run.”
Guy’s frantic appeal met with a prompt and most encouraging response—the rattle of a policeman’s club on the pavement. It was given probably as a warning to the robbers that there was somebody coming, and they had better be making off if they wished to avoid arrest. They acted upon the friendly hint by releasing their prisoner and trying to run away; but he, being strong and determined, seized them both with the intention of preventing their escape, at the same time awakening a thousand echoes among the deserted warehouses by his lusty cries for help, in which he was ably seconded by Guy. The robbers finally succeeded in throwing off their victim’s grasp, and one of them ran down the dock, while the other dodged into a door-way just as a policeman made his appearance around the corner.