cries demanding information as to the nature and whereabouts of the
disturbance.

The contestants addressed themselves vigorously to a spirited
rough-and-tumble fight. Talbot, who was the more easily observed by reason
of his shining pate and the pink stripes of his pajamas, appeared to be
revolving about the person of his neighbor. Wilton, though taller, lacked
the rotund Talbot's liveliness of attack.

An authoritative voice, which The Hopper attributed to Shaver's father,
anxiously demanding what was the matter, terminated The Hopper's
enjoyment of the struggle. Enough was the matter to satisfy The Hopper
that a prolonged stay in the neighborhood might be highly detrimental to
his future liberty. The combatants had rolled a considerable distance away
from the shelves and were near a door leading into a room beyond. A young
man in a bath-wrapper dashed upon the scene, and in his precipitate
arrival upon the battle-field fell sprawling across the prone figures. The
Hopper, suddenly inspired to deeds of prowess, crawled through the window,
sprang past the three men, seized the blue-and-white vase which Wilton had
separated from the rest of Talbot's treasures, and then with one hop
gained the window. As he turned for a last look, a pistol cracked and he
landed upon the terrace amid a shower of glass from a shattered pane.

A woman of unmistakable Celtic origin screamed murder from a third-story
window. The thought of murder was disagreeable to The Hopper. Shaver's
father had missed him by only the matter of a foot or two, and as he had
no intention of offering himself again as a target he stood not upon the
order of his going.

He effected a running pick-up of the Lang-Yao, and with this art treasure