e, take charge of this prisoner," indicating Bunny.
"If you let him escape you'll go to jail for it!"

Thus summoned in the name of the Commonwealth the elder Hepburn, though
he loathed his task, had to play the part of a police officer or take
the consequences. Hepburn, like his son, was noisy but not brave; he had
no desire to serve his state in jail, so he served it on the street.

However, the arresting party and prisoners had gone only as far as the
next corner when they encountered Chief of Police Blake, an official who
was not afraid of any one or anything.

"What's this?" asked the chief.

Hal and Noll were asked to explain the affair, while the two Hepburns
and Bunny's companions were forced, much against their will, to keep
still.

"We don't care about pressing any charge, chief," Hal added. "This crowd
got punished enough as it was."

"One of them certainly did," grinned Chief Blake, taking in the extent
of damage done to Bunny's countenance.

"Chief, I insist that you arrest these two soldier-loafers!" cried Bunny
hoarsely.

"And I back up that demand!" added the elder Hepburn, with what he
considered impressive dignity.

"Bosh!" retorted Chief Blake. "I'd take the word of these two Army
officers against a whole slumful of rowdies like these young fellows.
And so would any judge in his right mind. I refuse to arrest either of
these young Army officers, for I'm convinced that they acted only in
their own defense."

"Officer," broke in the elder Hepburn dramatically, "you have no right
to take the word of hireling soldiers against honest young working----"

"Go on! Chase yourselves! A quick vanish or a long night behind the hard
iron bars!" cried Chief Blake, dropping into the language that Bunny and
his companions could best understand. "Another piece of jaw, and to the
green-lighted doorway you all go!"

Then, nodding to Hal and Noll to stroll along with him, Chief Blake left
the discomfited trouble-makers.

"Another proof that the law exists only for the benefit of the favored
few!" hissed Bunny's father. "But this latest outrage shall not go
unnoticed. There are ways of getting justice, even under such a
miserable government as ours, and we shall have recourse to those ways.
Come with me, gentlemen, and I shall show you what can be done!"

There are always ways of making trouble when one is bound to do it.
Moreover, Mr. Hepburn was an expert at trouble-making, and on this night
he worked