uietly between them.

"As this young woman does not wish to talk with you," Darrin suggested,
"you may address all your remarks to me."

While the two young men stood eyeing each other Darrin noted that
the young woman's annoyer was somewhat taller than himself, broader
of shoulder and deeper of chest. He had the same confidence of
athletic poise that Dave himself displayed. In a resort to force,
it looked as though the stranger would have the better of it.

Yet this stranger seemed suddenly deprived of much of his assurance.
Plainly, there was some good reason why he did not wish to fight on
this side street so close to Broadway.

"Madam," inquired Darrin, half turning, "may I have the pleasure
of escorting you to your friends?"

"If you will call a taxi-----" she began, eagerly.

At that moment a fareless taxicab turned the corner of Broadway
and came slowly down the street.

"Hold on, chauffeur!" cried Darrin, in a voice of command. Then,
as the cab stopped at the curb, Dave turned his back upon the
tormentor for a moment, while he assisted the young woman into
the taxicab.

"Do you feel satisfied to go without escort," asked Darrin, "or
may I offer my services in seeing you safely to your home?"

"I shall be all right now," replied the young woman, the troubled
look in her lustrous brown eyes vanishing as she favored her unknown
defender with a smile. "If the driver will stop, two blocks from
here, I will direct him where to take me."

"Step aside, boy!" ordered the unknown man, as he tried to brush
Dave away and enter the cab.

It was no time for gentle measures. Ensign Darrin's right fist
landed heavily on the face of the stranger, sending him prone to
the sidewalk.

At a wave of Dave's hand the chauffeur started away. Scenting
trouble, the chauffeur drove as fast as he could down the side
street, making the round of the block, then heading into Broadway
and going uptown, for the young woman had called out her destination.

As for the stranger whom Dave had knocked down, the fellow was
on his feet like a flash. Ignoring Darrin, he tried to dash down
the side street after the taxicab.

"Step back!" ordered Dave, catching hold of the fellow, and swinging
him around. "You're not going to follow."

"I must have the number of that taxicab," cried the stranger,
desperately.

"Too late," smiled Dave, as he saw the taxicab turn the next corner.
"You won't learn the number. I happened to see