His pursuers never knew, did he pass from sight behind a covert of tents and mounds, where he would bob up next.

He avoided shafts and pools as if by a miracle; ran along greasy planks without a slip; and, where these had been removed to balk the police, he jumped the holes, taking risks that were not for a sane man.

Once he fell, but, enslimed from head to foot, wringing wet and hatless, was up again in a twinkling.

His enemies were less sure-footed than he, and times without number measured their length on the oily ground.

Still, one of them was gaining rapidly on him, a giant of a fellow with long thin legs; and soon the constable's foot filled the prints left by the young man's, while these were still warm.