"That," said Smith, nodding, "is a very fair _precis_ of the evening's events. We should like you, if you will be so good, to corral this Comrade Repetto, and see that he buys me a new hat." "We'll round Jack up," said one of the policemen indulgently. "Do it nicely," urged Smith. "Don't go hurting his feelings." The second policeman gave it as his opinion that Jack was getting too gay. The third policeman conceded this. Jack, he said, had shown signs for some time past of asking for it in the neck. It was an error on Jack's part, he gave his hearers to understand, to assume that the lid was completely off the great city of New York. "Too blamed fresh he's gettin'," the trio agreed. They seemed to think it was too bad of Jack. "The wrath of the Law," said Smith, "is very terrible. We will leave the matter, then, in your hands. In the meantime, we should be glad if you would direct us to the nearest subway station. Just at the moment, the cheerful lights of the Great White Way are what I seem chiefly to need." * * * * * So ended the opening engagement of the campaign, in a satisfactory but far from decisive victory for the _Peaceful Moments_' army. "The victory," said Smith, "was not bloodless. Comrade Brady's ear, my hat--these are not slight casualties. On the other hand, the elimination of Comrade Repetto is pleasant. I know few men whom I would not rather meet on a lonely road than Comrade Repetto. He is one of nature's black-jackers. Probably the thing crept upon him slowly. He started, possibly, in a merely tentative way by slugging one of the family circle. His aunt, let us say, or his small brother. But, once started, he is unable to resist the craving. The thing grips him like dram-drinking. He black-jacks now not because he really wants to, but because he cannot help himself. There's something singularly consoling in the thought that Comrade Repetto will no longer be among those present." "There are others," said John. "As you justly remark," said Smith, "there are others. I am glad we have secured Comrade Brady's services. We may need them." CHAPTER XX BETTY AT LARGE It was not till Betty found herself many blocks distant from the office of _Peaceful Moments_ that she checked her headlong flight. She had run down the stairs and out into the street blindly, filled only with that passion for escape which had swept her away from Mervo. Not till she had dived into the human river of Broadway and reached Times Square did she feel secure. Then, with less haste, she walked on to the park, and sat down on a bench, to think.