ice! We've got to get it back! I can do it! Come along!"

* * * * *

The Secret Service man instantly followed him. And Soames tore through
the scared people still aimlessly wandering about. He plunged down the
stairs. A squad-car cop moved to check his rush, and the Secret Service
man panted an identification and a need. The cop abandoned all other
matters and followed, too.

Soames needed to close his eyes to see what the Topper saw. He blinked
them shut while he ran three paces. The Topper walked, now. He'd been
joined by two friends. Soames heard his voice, he even felt the motions
of his lips and tongue in speech. He boasted that he'd snatched the
beads off Linda Beach's neck, and got a fancy belt one of those
funny-dressed kids was wearing.

Half a block. Two more of the Toppers joined the bragging snatcher. They
also heard of his grand achievement. The Topper drew his loot partly
from his pocket to prove his boast. They looked, and swaggered, and
whooped to others of their fellowship.

Soames pelted around a corner, turning it without warning. The Secret
Service man and the cop lost a dozen paces. Soames raced ahead. There
was a cluster of late-teen-age boys on the sidewalk of Eighth Avenue.
They wanted to see the loot.

Soames plunged into them. Without a word, he tackled and bore to the
ground the one in whose pocket Hod's belt and Linda Beach's necklace
still reposed.

Their reaction was instant. The Toppers were in a close group. Soames
hit it and fell to the ground atop one of their number. The others
instantly attacked him as if by reflex action. They stamped and kicked
viciously.

But there was a cop and a Secret Service man on the way. They struck.
The Toppers turned to fight and fled instead at the sight of two adults
already administering punishment to those within reach and coming on to
reach others.

The two officers pulled Soames to his feet. In seconds he'd been badly
battered. He pulled Hod's belt out from the pocket of the snarling,
now-pallid member of the Toppers, who was half-strangled and shaken. He
got the necklace. Numbly, he felt again and found a stray stone or two.

"All right," he said thickly. "I got it. I'll get back to the kids with
it."

* * * * *

The cop took the Topper. Soames and the Secret Service man got back to
the studio. The show was still on. Soames exhaustedly handed Hod his
belt, and stripped of