Story: Colonel Williams, Ch. 7, pt. II

As they moved through the crowd, it became menacingly thicker, so much so that several times they nearly had to shove men out of the way in order to make any progress. Every stop brought them closer to the front, and no one wanted to give up his prime spot. Even as they advanced, though, they could see no sign of the man they sought.
Suddenly, Alejandro stopped. They had reached the front of the crowd. A rope running around the entire platform kept the throng back several feet from it. Nowhere could they see their quarry.
“He must have gone another direction,” Roderick said, stating the obvious.
Williams turned to Alejandro. “Are you sure you saw him?” he asked.
“Yes,” Alejandro answered emphatically, “I recognized the face, and he should be here somewhere. We need to keep looking, and I am sure that we will see him.”
They started to turn around to continue to search the crowd when a great commotion arose from off to their left at the base of the platform. Two voices shouted in anger. Looking back towards the source of the disturbance, Alejandro cried out, “It is him!”
“Where?” Williams asked.
“There,” Alejandro said, pointing towards the two men who stood inside the rope barrier, arguing vociferously. “He is the one arguing with Mr. Johnson.”
“Let’s get closer,” Williams said in Spanish, motioning for Roderick to follow.
They ducked underneath the ropes and started to make their way towards the argument, moving slowly to avoid drawing attention to themselves. As they approached, they could hear the contents of the discussion.
The man they sought was speaking. “No refund!” he bellowed. “Mr. Johnson, this is absolutely unacceptable! I purchased the work, not the person, and she has not done a minute’s work since the day I took her back to my farm. All she does is cry. I demand a refund!”
“I do not give refunds, Mr. Walters,” Johnson answered angrily. “That has been my policy, and it’s clearly set forth in the contract. Now, I would be glad to give you a 10% discount on your next purchase if you would like.”
“Ten percent!” Walters exclaimed. “Do you take me for some rube like the idiots you trick into selling themselves into slavery?”
“Servitude,” Johnson interrupted, “indentured servitude.”
“Whatever. The point is that I will accept nothing less than a full refund.”
“And I’ve already told you that it’s strictly against my policy to issue refunds.”
Walters frowned. “You will not make an exception?” he asked rhetorically. “Very well! I’ll leave for now, but I will be back. You’ll regret the day that you crossed Terrance Walters!” He stormed back off into the crowd.
Williams moved quickly to follow him, trying to catch up. The crowd, however, did not appreciate having two men both try to force their way against the grain. Williams had not made far before a large, stupid-looking man decided that he had endured enough shoving for the moment.
Instead of yielding to Williams' attempts to push his way through, the man grabbed Williams’ arms and tried to throw him back the way he came. The military training of Williams kicked in instantly, and he quickly switched his weight to allow the man’s own throw to carry him on forward past Williams. The man stumbled ahead, banging into several people ahead of him, who were displeased at the encounter, to say the least.
The entire incident took a few seconds, but those few seconds cost Williams a great deal of distance. By the time he made his way to the back edge of the crowd, Walters had already reached his carriage and was rattling away at great speed.