"It's all right," Higgins responded, as he staggered to the curb under the force of the shove.
At that instant Frank saw another in the crowd making a movement which showed that he was going to trip Higgins and cause him to fall.
The attempt was not made, for acting instantly upon his impulse, Frank leaped from the doorway and caught the fellow a terrible blow upon the side of the face.
It sent him reeling halfway across the street before he finally lost his balance and fell full length.
The attack was so unexpected and sudden that most of the others in the group did not stir for a second.
It was a man who had edged forward in order to make sure of tripping Higgins if the first man should fail, and he was so intent upon accomplishing this that he did not stop when Frank's form shot past him to attack the other.
Therefore when Frank wheeled about to defend himself in case the others should fall upon him, he saw this man just in the act of giving Higgins a violent kick upon the shins.
It was all happening so quickly that at this instant Higgins had just made his reply to the apology of the man who had shoved him, and was only beginning to regain his balance.
The kick in the shins did the business for him. He fell upon his hands and knees, and just then Frank struck out again.
He was never so thoroughly aroused in his life, and his blows fell like rain upon the Princeton man's face and chest. The latter would have suffered a square knockdown if he had not been standing so that he fell against his comrades.
The others, recovering a little from their first astonishment, made a feeble effort to close in on Frank, but it would have taken more than them to stop him then.
He beat them off vigorously, striking without mercy at any one who came within reach.
"Cheese it, there's a cop!" exclaimed one of the party suddenly, and they all took to their heels.
Higgins by this time had got up and was supporting himself against a lamp-post.
"I guess so," responded Higgins, so surprised that he could hardly speak.
Frank took him by the arm and marched him back to the barroom, through which they went to the lobby, and then out by the ladies' entrance upon Twenty-sixth Street.
The scrimmage had taken place so quickly and quietly that it had attracted no attention within the barroom, and as Frank and Higgins were not followed, it seemed probable that the cry of alarm about a policeman coming was false.