On a bicycle it was easy to get there before him.

I sat down on a bench and waited.
Presently he comes, walking fast, his hat still squashed in all over his ears.

I walked my bicycle slap in front of him.
"'Good-night, Major,' I said.
"He stared at me as if he didn't know me.

Then he seemed to pull himself together and said: 'Good-night, Gedge.

What are you doing out at this time of night ?' "'If it comes to that, sir,' said I, 'what are you ?' "Then he says, very haughty, as if I was the dirt under his feet--I suppose, Sir Anthony Fenimore and Major Meredyth, you think that me and my class are by divine prescription the dirt beneath your feet, but you're damn well mistaken--then he says: 'What the devil do you mean ?' and catches hold of the front wheel of the bicycle and swings it and me out of his way so that I had a nasty fall, with the machine on top of me, and he marches off.