“Open the door,” I said, “and just see there’s no one in the passage.”

With a deep chuckle Tommy turned to obey, while Joyce laughed with a viciousness that I should never have given her credit for.  As for George—­well, I suppose in his blind terror he really thought he was going to be drowned, for he kicked and struggled and raved till it was as much as I could do to hold him.

“All clear!” sang out Tommy from the hall.

“Stand by, then,” I said, and taking a deep breath, I ran George through the flat down the passage, and out into the street, in a style that would have done credit to the chucker out at the Empire.

There were not many people about, and those that were there had no time to interfere even if they had wanted to do so.  I just got a glimpse of the startled face of our taxi driver as he jumped aside to let us pass, and the next moment we had crossed the road and fetched up with a bang against the low Embankment wall.

I paused for a moment, renewed my grip on George’s collar, and took a quick look round.  Tommy was beside me, and a few yards away, down at the bottom of some steps, I saw a number of small boys paddling in the water.  There was evidently no risk of anybody being drowned.

“I’ll take his feet,” said Tommy, suiting the action to the word.  “You get hold of his arms.”

There was a brief struggle, a loud scream for help, and the next moment George was swinging merrily between us.

“One!  Two!  Three!” I cried.

At the word “three” we let go simultaneously.  He flew up into the air like a great wriggling crab, twisted round twice, and then went down into the muddy water with a splash that echoed all over the Embankment.

“Very nice,” said Tommy critically.  “But we ought to have put a stone round his neck.”

One glance over the wall showed me that there was no danger.  Dripping, floundering, and gasping for breath, George emerged from the surface like a frock-coated Neptune rising from the waves.  He seemed to be trying to speak, but the shrieks of innocent delight with which his reappearance was greeted by the paddling boys unfortunately prevented us from hearing him.

I thrust my arm through Tommy’s.  “Come along,” I said.  “We must get out of this before there’s a row.”

Swift as we had been about it, our little operation had already attracted a certain amount of notice.  People were hurrying up from all directions, but without paying any attention to them, we walked back towards the taxi, the driver of which had apparently been too astonished to move.

“Gor blimey, Guv’nor,” he ejaculated, “what sorter gime d’you call that?”

“It’s all right, driver,” said Tommy gravely.  “We found him insulting this gentleman’s sister.”

The driver, who evidently had a nice sense of chivalry, at once came round to our side.

“Was ’e?—­the dirty ’ound!” he observed.  “Well, you done it on ’im proper.  You ain’t drowned ’im, ’ave ye, gents?”