A brown hand shot out as the words left his lips, and the beefy one found himself propelled by the shoulder into the center of the car faster than he had had occasion to move for a long time.
At the same instant Herc, to his huge delight, perceived the signal for action and sailed in on his man. In another second the two beefy ones, dazed by the suddenness of it all, stood side by side in the center of the car, while Ned courteously aided the two ladies to the seats from which the interlopers had been so suddenly wrenched.
"This is an outrage!" bellowed the red-faced men in concert, as they found their voices. "Such a thing has never happened before."
"That's a pity," observed Ned contemptuously, while the delighted Herc whispered in a stage undertone:
"Mine came out like a soft, white worm out of a hickory nut."
"Conductor! conductor!" howled the man to whom Ned had given such a rough and ready lesson in manners, "come here and do your duty. We've been assaulted."
The conductor pushed his way through the crowded aisle, assuming an air of great importance.
"What's all this? What's all this?" he shouted.
"These two rowdy sailors deprived us of our seats," sputtered one of the red-faced men.