Dave Darrin at Vera Cruz | Page 3

round of the block, then heading into Broadway and going uptown, for
the young woman had called out her destination.
As for the stranger whom Dave had knocked down, the fellow was on
his feet like a flash. Ignoring Darrin, he tried to dash down the side
street after the taxicab.
"Step back!" ordered Dave, catching hold of the fellow, and swinging
him around. "You're not going to follow."
"I must have the number of that taxicab," cried the stranger,
desperately.
"Too late," smiled Dave, as he saw the taxicab turn the next corner.
"You won't learn the number. I happened to see it, though," he added
incautiously.
"Give it to me, then," commanded the other. "I'll overlook what you've
done if you truthfully give me the number of that taxicab. Find that girl
I must, and as early as possible. Though I know her well, and her
family, too, I do not know where to look for them in New York."
Dave, without a word, turned as though to walk toward Broadway.
"Give me that taxi's number," insisted the stranger.
"I won't," Dave returned, flatly.
"Give me that number, or-----"
"Or what?" drawled Darrin halting and glancing contemptuously at the
furious face before him.
"Or I'll pound the number out of you!" came the ugly challenge.

"Go ahead," Dave invited, coolly. "I don't mind a fight in the least,
though perhaps you would, for I see a policeman coming up the street.
He would be bound to arrest both of us. Perhaps you have better
reasons than I have for not courting the activities of the police."
It was plain that a fearful, even though brief struggle, took place in the
stranger's mind before he made reply to Dave's taunt.
"I'll find you again, and the next time you shall not get off so easily,"
muttered the other. "Depend upon it, I shall see you again!"
With that the stranger walked toward Broadway. Smiling, Dave strolled
more slowly after him. By the time the naval ensign reached the corner
of that great artery of human life, the stranger had lost himself in the
crowds of people that thronged Broadway.
"If I see him again within twenty-four hours, I think I shall know him,"
laughed Darrin. "My first blow put a red welt on his cheek for purposes
of identification."
Then Darrin finished his walk, turning in at the Allsordia.
Dan Dalzell had also finished his bath, and lounging comfortably in his
pajamas, was reading a late edition of the evening newspaper. "Have
any fun?" asked Ensign Dalzell, glancing up.
"Just a little bit of a frolic," smiled Darrin, and told his chum what had
happened.
"I'm glad you punched the scoundrel," flared Danny Grin.
"I couldn't do anything else," Dave answered soberly, "and if it weren't
for the shame of treating a woman in such high-handed fashion as that
fellow did, I'd look upon the whole affair as a pleasant diversion."
"So he's going to look for you and find you, then settle up this night's
business with you, is he?" demanded Dalzell, with one of the grins that
had made him famous. "Humph! If he finds you after ten o`clock

to-morrow morning, it will be aboard one of our biggest battleships and
among fifteen hundred fighting men."
"I'm afraid I shall never see him again," sighed Dave. "It's too bad, too,
for I'm not satisfied with the one blow that I had the pleasure of giving
him. I'd like to meet the fellow in a place where I could express and
fully back up my opinion of him."
"I wonder if you'll ever meet him again?" mused Dalzell, aloud.
"It's not worth wondering about," Dave returned. "I must get into my
bath now. I'll be out soon."
Fifteen minutes later Darrin looked into the room, saying good night to
his chum. Then he retired to his own sleeping room; five minutes later
he was sound asleep.
No strangers to our readers are Dave Darrin and Dan Dalzell "Darry"
and "Danny Grin," as they were known to many of their friends. As
members of that famous schoolboy group known as Dick & Co. they
were first encountered in the pages of the _"Grammar School Boys
Series."_ All our readers are familiar with the careers in sport and
adventure that were achieved by those splendid Gridley boys, Dick
Prescott, Dave Darrin, Greg Holmes, Dan Dalzell, Tom Reade and
Harry Hazelton. The same boys, a little older and twice as daring, were
again found in the pages of the _"High School Boys Series,"_ and then
immediately afterward in the _"High School Boys' Vacation Series."_
It was in the _"Dick Prescott Christmas Series"_ that we found all six
of our fine, manly young friends in the full flower of high school
boyhood. A few