g his danger, did not scruple to show his contempt for one of
the despised race whom he likewise scorned for his weakness, by dealing
him a kick in the leg with his heavy boot which, fairly delivered, would
have broken an oaken post. Though avoiding its full force, the unhappy
father was so painfully struck that he staggered back to the opposite
rail of the bridge and, clapping both hands to the bruise on the shin,
groaned while he strove in vain to overcome the paralyzing agony. From
that moment he was compelled to remain as a stranger in action to the
outrage.

Still struggling, though with little hope, the girl saw the defeat of
her natural champion with sympathetic anguish. Though he had not spied
the student, she had regarded him with no faint opinion of his manliness
for--repelling the kind of proud self-reliance of her race to have no
recourse to strangers during persecution--she lifted her voice with a
confidence which startled her rude adorer.

"Help! help from this ruffian-gentleman!"

"Silence, you fool," rejoined Sendlingen. "I tell you, the coast is
clear--for I have arranged all that. It is simple strategy to secure
one's flanks--"

"Help!" repeated the songstress, redoubling her efforts--not to escape,
which was out of the question, but to shield her mouth from contact with
the red moustaches, hovering over it like the wings of a bloodstained
bird of rapine.

As this repetition of the appeal, steps clattered on the bridge, and the
officer lifted his head. He may have expected Baboushka or one of her
fraternity, and the tall, slender student, who had flung off his cloak
to run more swiftly, gave him a surprise. The agile and intelligent girl
took the opportunity with commendable speed, and glided out of the
major's relaxing grasp like a wasp from under the spider's claws. She
retreated as far as where her father tried to stand erect, and helping
him up, led him prudently down the bridge slope so that they might
continue their flight. It would have been the basest ingratitude to
depart without seeing the result of the interference, and the two
lingered, though it would have been wiser to let the two Christians bite
and tear each other without witnesses of another creed, and with the
witness of none.

It was a free spectacle, but, if it had cost their week's salary at the
casino, it would have been worth the money.

As the major had empty hands after the loss of his prize, the student
had the quixot