The alley-way, on which the door opened through which Tom had dashed, proved to lead into a quiet, retired thoroughfare, at the foot of which the masts of shipping could be seen.
The two men, half-dragging, half-supporting poor Tom, hastened down it.
As they neared the water front, however, a strange thing occurred. Their grasp on the supposedly semi-conscious Tom had been light. They had not deemed it necessary to be over-vigilant. Now they realized their mistake, for Tom, with a swift movement, dived out of their grip, and the next instant was darting off—free once more. The blow had been a hard one, but it had not made him half so stupefied as the lad's cleverness had led his captors to believe.
CHAPTER VI.
ALONG A TRAIL OF TROUBLES.
Like the other Tom of the immortal rhyme, our lad went "dashing down the street" as though on the wings of the wind. Behind him came shouts and yells, but he paid no attention to them. He did not know that, at the very moment that he had succeeded in eluding the grip of Walstein and Dampier, the pursuing police had, in turn, picked up the trail of those two worthies. Seeing Tom in the grip of the rascals, the skeptical sergeant, who was one of the party, immediately began to put more stock in Tom's story than he had hitherto.
"The lad was telling the truth after all, I believe," he said.
"Of course he was," said Jeff indignantly, for the boy, who had established his identity and vouched for Tom, had come along, too.
The approach to Walstein and Dampier was made with all due caution, but just as the officers of the law were about to dart forward upon the two rascals, Tom made his surprising escape. At the same instant Walstein and Dampier, likewise, dashed off after Tom, so that there was a sort of triple pursuit on—Tom in chase of liberty, Walstein and Dampier in hot pursuit of Tom, and the police and Jeff in quest of both Tom and his recent captors.
Hearing the shouts of the police behind them, Dampier and Walstein turned to see what this new development might portend. It didn't take them the wink of an eyelid to comprehend what was occurring.