Page:A Child of the Jago - Arthur Morrison.djvu/75

 He ran, turned into Old Jago Street, and saw.

Sprawled on her face in the vile roadway lay a writhing woman and screamed, while squeezed under her arm was a baby with mud in its eyes and a cut cheek, crying weakly; and spread over all, clutching her prey by hair and wrist, Sally Green hung on the nape like a terrier, jaws clenched, head shaking.

Thus Dicky saw it in a flash, and in an instant he had flung himself on Sally Green, kicking, striking, biting and crying, for he had seen his mother and Looey. The kicks wasted themselves among the woman's petticoats and the blows were feeble, but the sharp teeth were meeting in the shoulder-flesh when help came.

Norah Walsh, vanquished champion, now somewhat recovered, looked from a window, saw her enemy vulnerable, and ran out, armed with a bottle. She stopped