" and started over the
bar.

I yelled, "It's murder. They're trying to poison you!"

"Oh, a crackpot!"

He came toward me, shaking off Uncle Peter's restraining hand. I took a
step backward, thankful he was coming in wide open because I had seen
few tougher-looking characters in my lifetime.

I set myself and sent a short knockout punch against his chin. It was a
good punch. Everything was in it. It sounded like a sledge hammer
hitting a barn door.

The barkeep shook his head and came on in. I stepped back and slugged
him again. No result.

Then Joy slipped into the narrow space between us. She was smiling and,
with her upturned waiting lips, she was temptation personified. The
barkeep dropped his hands, paralyzed by her intoxicating nearness.

She said, "Hello, Iron Head. How about you and I taking a little
vacation together somewhere."

He grinned and reached for her. This, it developed, was a mistake,
because Joy reached for him at the same time. She lifted his
two-hundred-odd pounds as though he were a baby and he went flying
across the room like a projectile. He hit a radiator head-on and lay
still.

Again I was stupefied. It seemed I knew nothing at all about this girl
I'd married. She smiled at me and said, "Don't be alarmed, angel.
There's an explanation. You see, my mother gave me money for piano
lessons and I invested most of it in a course of ju-jitsu. I thought an
occasion like this might arise sometime. Do you want to take McCaffery,
or shall I do it? I doubt if he'll come to the station peaceably."

But Hands McCaffery was not to be caught flatfooted. Without his machine
gun he was just an ordinary little man who didn't want to go with us. He
took one look at the prone barkeep, muttered, "Geez!" and headed for the
back door.

"Get him," Joy yelled. "Maybe we can make a deal with the cops to fry
Hands in place of Uncle Peter!"

I started after Hands and as I went through the back door I heard Uncle
Peter protesting feebly. "I say now. This is all uncalled-for--"

"Don't let him get away!" Joy called. "He's got the serum!"

That cleared things up somewhat and made me even more resolute.
Evidently we had interrupted Uncle Peter and Hands in the process of
doing away with all the latter's enemies. With that bottle in his
possession, he was a menace to the entire population of the city. A man
of his type would certainly have far more enemies than friends.

Outside in the dark alley, I was gu