side of the car, and turned the handle to step within.
The instant he entered the car he felt himself seized and jerked
downward while a pair of hands gripped at his throat. A vicious blow
struck him on the back of the neck. Twisting, fighting, squirming, he
struggled to free himself from the hands that were throttling him. His
knees found a grip upon the floor of the car, and bracing himself, he
jerked loose from one of the men, and struck wildly at the shape he saw
silhouetted against the opposite window. His fist met flesh with a
crunching sound.

"I'll kill you for that," gritted someone, striking him. In the half
light of the interior McCarthy saw an object descending. He threw up
an arm to protect his head, and with a crunching blow a heavy blackjack
fell upon his arm. He seized the weapon and jerked it from the hand
that had held it, but it fell to the floor of the cab.

McCarthy had struggled to his feet, bowing as his head struck the roof.
One man, seated, kicked at him and hurt him cruelly. He was standing,
with the car door swinging wide, while the car lurched and raced along
a rough street.

Curses, groans, cries of pain and anger came from the interior as the
player, battling against two unknown opponents, fought on. All three
of the participants in the battle at forty miles an hour, were hampered
by the smallness of the interior.

McCarthy strove to tear himself from the arms and legs that struck and
kicked him, to get his head out of the window to raise the alarm.

Again and again he cried. Then suddenly the car lurched around a
corner at a mad pace, tipping onto two wheels and skidding sickeningly.
At that instant one of his assailants drove his feet against his body,
and, as the car lurched wildly, McCarthy broke loose, grasped
frantically for something to save himself, plunged from the machine,
struck upon the asphalt of the side street into which the car had
whirled, slid along it to the gutter and lay a huddled heap.

The car stopped quickly and whirled back to where he lay. The men
leaped out, one cursing and frothing, the other urging silence and
haste. Between them they lifted the half-conscious player and shoved
him into the bottom of the car.

[Illustration: THE MEN LEAPED OUT]

"Hurry up, Fred," urged the quiet man to the driver. "These fellows
down at the corner are coming. Jump in, Jack."

They leaped back into the taxi, and the man called Jack said viciously:

"The