"Bully for you, Fismes," cried Dick, as he closed with another antagonist.
The fight lasted not more than a minute. Two bronzed navy veterans, an ex-soldier with a fine record and a good old dog who had sense enough to stick with his friends against any odds—they were more than a match for a bunch of rioting strikers. Back fell the crowd before the fierce onslaught, scattering right and left, but not quick enough to evade the mounted shipyard police who came up on the gallop, swinging riot clubs with telling effect.
With their backs to the rescued, the rescuers stood their ground until order had been restored. Only then did they turn to the man they had saved against the wrath of the mob.
"Well, of all things, our old friend Montey Brown," cried Jay in surprise, recognizing at once the yard superintendent!
"Jay Thacker! And Dick Monaghan! Did you ever? And Larry Seymour," exclaimed the veteran official, bruised and battered, but smiling through it all.
CHAPTER III Signed Up for Salvage
"BY George! that was a narrow call for me," vouchsafed Brown, the yard superintendent, to the three rescuers, whom he had invited into his office following the tilt with the crowd of rioters. His face a mass of bruises, poor old Montey presented a sorry spectacle.