In the morning they questioned him—­they set down his answers with quick, sharp jerks that asked for more.  And the boy repeated faithfully all that he had told; and the surgeon sitting beside him watched with keen eyes—­and smiled....  The boy would hold.  He was sound.  But they must be careful... and after a little he sent him into the garden to work—­while the men compared notes and sent despatches and the story travelled into the world, tallying itself against the face of every rogue.  But there were no faces that matched it—­no faces such as the boy had cherished with minute care... as if the features had been stamped—­one flashing stroke—­upon his brain, and disappeared.  There could be no doubt of them—­the description of the child was perfect—­red cherries, grey coat—­and floating curls.  He seemed to see the face before him as he talked—­and the face of the big man at her left, with red moustache and sharp chin—­and the smaller man beside her, who had clapped his hand across her mouth and glared at the boy on the ground—­his eyes were black—­yes, and he wore a cap—­pulled down, and collar up—­you only saw the eyes—­black as—­The boy had looked about him a minute, and pointed to the shoes of the chief of police gleaming in the sunlight—­patent leathers, and dress suit, hurried away from a political banquet the night before.  The men smiled and the pencils raced....  There had been another man who drove the machine, but the boy had not noticed him—­his swift glance had taken in only the child, it seemed, and the faces that framed her.

A little later they drove into the city—­the boy accompanying them, and the surgeon and Achilles, who had hurried out with the first news and had listened to his son’s story with dark, silent eyes.  He sat in the car close to Alcibiades, one hand on the back of the seat, the other on the boy’s hand.  Through the long miles they did not speak.  The boy seemed resting in his father’s strength.  It was only when they reached the scene of his disaster that he roused himself and pointed with quick finger—­to the place where he had fallen....  He was pushing his cart—­so—­and he looked up—­quick—­and his cart went—­so!—­and all his fruit, and he was down—­looking up—­and the car went by, close....  Which way?—­He could not tell that—­no....  He shut his eyes—­his face grew pale.  He could not tell.

The street forked here—­it might have been either way—­by swerving a little.  And the police looked wise and took notes and reporters photographed the spot and before night a crowd had gathered about it, peering hopefully at the pavement where Alcibiades had lain, and pointing with eager fingers to bits of peel—­orange and banana—­scattered by the last passer-by, and gazing at dark stains on the pavement—­something that might be marks of blood—­after ten weeks of rain and mud and dust!