The half-dazed wretch saw that the boy held him at his mercy, and he dropped back again in a recumbent position.
"Run, Pearl, and get a policeman to come!" cried Will, and the young girl darted away, while the robber started to rise, with the remark:
"No perlice for me, boy—Oh!"
Back he fell, as the poker descended upon his head with a force that again stunned him.
"Oh, Will!" groaned the poor woman.
"I had to do it, mother, or he would have killed us both to get away, for he's a desperate fellow."
And the fearless boy stood over his prisoner with the air of one who meant to stand no trifling, and knew very well that he was master of the situation.
The man soon revived again, but a motion of the poker held over him, and a stern order, kept him on his back, for he had twice felt the weight of the boy's blow, and, bleeding from two scalp-wounds and with aching head, he concluded to remain quiet.
It seemed an age to the mother and son that Pearl was gone; but she had fairly flown to the nearest police station, and came dashing into the room breathlessly, crying: