"Hold up!"
"I can't!" answered Steve, continuing on toward them.
"Ye'd better stop, if ye know what's good for ye."
"There has been an accident. I can't stop. I'm from the accident department, and——"
"We'll stop ye!"
"The wooden-heads, they actually are going to hold me up! Well, I'll teach them a lesson, even if I lose my job for it," gritted the boy. "Get out of the way, I tell you! Don't you dare stop me here!"
The officers spread out a little, drawing their clubs as they executed the movement, one stepping forward a little in advance of the others.
"There's only one way out of it," muttered Steve. "I've either got to get by them or be called down at the office for being too slow. I don't believe I'll be called down for being late to-day. At least, not for anything that I see just now."
The foremost of the Iron and Steel Police made a grab for the fleeing lad, catching and whirling the boy around, facing in the opposite direction.