Street, and again at Halsted Street, Peewee, with a cautious eye upon the man, had attempted to turn south. In each instance the man had hastened forward within arm's reach; then Peewee, in panic, had resumed his former course. That the man had fallen promptly back to the position he had held before gave grounds for an inference that he did not think it necessary to molest Peewee so long as they continued to go west.
Yet even panic could not drive Peewee much further out of the districts which he knew. He observed frequent half-open doors giving upon stairways which went upward in the buildings that they passed; other doors led down to basements. He reflected that in a neighborhood with which he was acquainted some of these would have offered opportunity for abrupt escape. There were no openings upon the street front except doors, for the alleys here ran east and west. To attain an alley he would have to turn either south or north. He had already twice tried south; at the next street intersection, he darted quickly north. But he had not gone twenty feet when he felt the man's clutch upon his wrist.
Previous experience now guided Peewee; he
