Dave Darrin at Vera Cruz | Page 2

opened doors of the restaurants came the
sounds of music and laughter, but Dave felt no desire to enter.
He was several blocks on his homeward way, and was passing the
corner of a side street quieter than the others, when he heard a woman's
stifled cry of alarm.
Halting, bringing his heels together with a click, and throwing his
shoulders back, Darrin stopped on the corner and looked down the
street.
Five or six doors away, close to a building, stood a young woman of
not more than twenty-two. Though she was strikingly pretty, Dave did
not note that fact in the first glance. He saw, however, that she was well
dressed in the latest spring garments, and that her pose was one of
retreat from the man who stood before her.
That the man had the external appearance of the gentleman was the \
first fact Darrin observed.
Then he heard the young woman's indignant utterance:
"You coward!"
"That is a taunt not often thrown at me," the young man laughed,
carelessly.
"Only a coward would attempt to win a woman's love by threats,"
replied the girl, more calmly, though bitterness rang in her tone. "As for
you, I wish to assure you that I am quite through with you!"
"Oh, no, you're not!" rejoined the annoyer, with the air of one who

knows himself to be victor. "In fact, you will do very much as I wish,
or your brother---"
"You coward!" spoke the girl, scornfully again.
"If your brother suffers, your pride will be in the dust," insisted the
annoyer, "and, remember, I, alone, can save your brother from
disgrace."
"I am not even going to ask you to do it," retorted the young woman.
"And now our interview is over. I am going to leave you, and I shall
not see you again. I-----"
"Going to leave me, are you?" leered her tormentor. He stepped
forward, holding out his hand, as though to seize the young woman's
wrist, but she alertly eluded him.
"If you try again to touch me, or if you attempt to follow me," warned
the young woman, "I shall appeal for assistance."
So absorbed were the disputants in their quarrel that neither had noticed
Darrin, standing on the corner.
The tormentor's face flushed, then went white, "Make your appeal," he
dared, "and see what happens!"
Again he attempted to take the girl by the wrist.
"Can I be of service, madam?" inquired Darrin, as he strode toward
them.
Like a flash, the annoyer wheeled upon Darrin, his eyes flashing
dangerously.
"Young man," he warned, threateningly, "the best thing you can
possibly do will be to make yourself scarce as quickly as possible. As
for this young woman-----"
The tormentor moved a step nearer to the young woman, whose face

had turned very pale.
Dave slipped quietly 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