Then he received a shock that seemed to cause a thousand bright lights to flash before his eyes, and he knew he had been struck on the head with some sort of weapon.
The boy staggered. Uttering hoarse exclamations, his assailants, like beasts of prey, sprang upon him.
With new strength, Frank twisted and squirmed. In doing so, he threw his head from side to side, and it chanced that he succeeded in saving it from the blows which were intended to render him helpless.
Those blows, many of them, at least, fell on his shoulders and his back with benumbing force.
He forgot that his left hand was not yet well, but he used it as freely and as vigorously as his right.
And, once more, something like a laugh came from his lips.
"Hear him!" hissed one of the ruffians. "Why, he's a perfect young fiend!"
But Frank could not long hold his own against such odds. Some of the blows aimed at his head fell glancingly, but they were enough to rob him in a measure of his strength. He tried to tear away, and then he was felled to the ground.
Merriwell felt that "the jig was up" with him. They had him at their mercy, at last.
Then it was that a surprising thing happened. With encouraging cries, two men came through the darkness and attacked the boy's assailants.
That the new arrivals on the battlefield were armed with heavy clubs was apparent, and they used them mercilessly on the ruffians.
This attack was unexpected by Frank's assailants, and they could not meet it. Immediately they turned and fled, pursued by one of the men who had set upon them.
Just then, apparently disturbed by the sounds of the fight, some person came to a nearby window with a lighted lamp.
The light shone out into the alley, and fell on Frank Merriwell and one of the men who had saved him.
"Dat's wot, me boy!" cried the bruiser, cheerfully. "An' I kinder t'ink we didn't git round any too quick neider."
"Be yer hurt much, youngster?" asked Kirby, anxiously, assisting Frank to arise.
"I think not. Got a few cracks and was upset, but that is all. Where is the man who was with you?"
"He whooped it along after der gang. Kinder t'ink he wanted ter ketch one of der blokes an' hold him fer der perlice ter pinch."
"What?" cried Frank, astonished--"don't know who was with you when you came to my aid?"