"Gentlemen, I have been insulted by this fellow!" came from behind the baffling veil worn by the woman. "He is a low wretch, who attacked me in a most brutal manner."

"We will see that you are protected, madam," a.s.sured the little man, his red whiskers seeming to bristle like porcupine quills, as he dodged round Frank and placed himself on the opposite side of the veiled unknown. "Madam," he repeated, "I will see that you are protected--I will!"

"You are very kind," she fluttered; "but where is the officer? The reaction--the shock--the weakness!"

"Permit me to offer you any a.s.sistance possible," gallantly spoke a man in a sack coat and a silk hat, stepping forward and raising the latter piece of wearing apparel, thereby disclosing a shining bald spot on the top of his head, which he covered as quickly as possible, evidently hoping it had escaped the woman's notice. "You are in a city, my dear lady, where insults to the fair s.e.x never go unpunished."

He attempted to smile on her in a pleasant manner, but there was a sort of leer in his eyes and around his sensual mouth that betrayed his true character plainly enough.

The woman did not accept his arm which was half tendered, but she made a great show of agitation and distress, which affected the various witnesses.

"It's a shame!" piped the man with the long neck and the bobbing head.

"It's an outrage!" bl.u.s.tered the little man with the bristling whiskers and savage manner.

"It's most unfortunate!" murmured the gallant man with the silk hat and sack coat.

"It's a bad break for Mr. Masher!" e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed the big man with the crooked eye and glowering look.

Frank smiled; he could not help it, for he was impressed by the comedy of the affair, despite the unpleasantness of the situation he was in at that moment.

"This would be good stuff for a scene in a play," he thought, and he made a mental note of it.

Then he turned to the woman.

"Madam," he said, "what have I ever done to you that you should attempt to injure me in this manner?"

"Don't let him speak to me, the scoundrel!" she entreated, appealing to the men.

"But it is no more than fair that you should answer me," persisted Merry. "I do not know you; I have not even seen your face. Will you not lift your veil and permit me to see your face, so that I may know who has brought me into this unpleasant position?"

"He adds to his insults by requesting me to expose my ident.i.ty on the street after such an affair as this!" she almost sobbed. "He would disgrace me! He would have my name in all the newspapers!"

"Reprehensible!" purred the gallant man.

"Terrible!" cackled the man with the bobbing head.

"Dastardly!" exploded the individual with the red whiskers.

"Criminal!" grated the giant with the crooked eye.

And they all glared at Frank--at least all of them but the one with the crooked eye. It is possible that he, also, glared at the supposed offender, but he seemed to be glaring at a white horse on the opposite side of the street.

Repressing his laughter with difficulty, Merry said:

"I a.s.sure you, gentlemen, I never saw this lady, to my knowledge, before a few minutes ago, when she stopped me on the street, and----"

Again the woman screamed.

"Will you listen to his base falsehoods?" she cried, with a show of the greatest indignation and distress. "He is trying to disgrace me still further by a.s.serting that I stopped him on the street--stopped him! As if a lady would do such a thing!"

"The idea!" squawked the man with the long neck, his head seeming to bob faster than ever, as if it sought to express by its excited movements the indignant emotions his tongue could not utter.

"My dear lady, I would not remain here to be thus insulted," declared the gallant man, bending toward her, and endeavoring to summon a look of concern to his treacherous countenance.

"He should be placed in irons!" blurted the fierce-appearing little man, his red whiskers seeming to work and squirm with intense excitement and anger.

"He ought to have his head broken!" roared the big man, his crooked eye still seeming to glare at the white horse in a most terrible and awesome manner.

Others of the a.s.sembled crowd murmured to themselves in a most indignant manner, all seeming to regard Frank as the offender.

Frank took out his watch and looked at it.

"Gracious!" he mentally exclaimed, "time is flying. If this keeps up much longer, I'll not reach Puelbo to-day."

"Now he shows his anxiety and concern," said a voice in the crowd.

"He's beginning to be frightened," said another voice.

"He's anxious to get away," said a third.

"But he can't get away," said a fourth.

"This is all very interesting," thought Frank; "but it is decidedly unpleasant."

"Waal, whut in time's sake is goin' on here, I'd like ter know?" cried a voice that was familiar to Frank, and a tall, lank, countrified-appearing youth came up to the outskirts of the crowd, stood on his tiptoes, and peered over.

It was Ephraim Gallup, and he saw Frank.

"Waal, darned if it ain't----"

Merry made a swift movement, clapping a finger to his lips, and Gallup, usually rather slow to tumble to anything, understood him at once, relapsing into silence.

"Let me git in here where I kin see the fun," he said, and he elbowed the people aside as he forced his way through the crowd.

It did not take him long to reach the center of the throng, although a number of persons were indignant at his manner of thrusting them aside or stepping on their feet.

"Whut's up?" he asked. "Ef there's anything goin' on, I kainder want to see it."

"This young masher has insulted this lady!" explained the man with the bobbing head.

"Sho!" exclaimed Gallup. "Yeou don't say so, mister! Waal, I am s'prised!"

"He has treated her in an outrageous manner!" added the man with the agitated and fiery whiskers.

"I do declare!" e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed Ephraim. "I'd never thought it of him, by thutter!"

"The lady requires protection," declared the gallant man with the mismated wearing apparel.