Part 27 (1/2)

The sky?”

The pickpocket laughed gleefully.

”Did I scare you? I guess it must have surprised you, me popping in here like a Punch and Judy figure, eh? You kind o' surprised me, too, I'll say that for you. Gee whiz, I didn't know anybody was here. Say, do you mind if I get back in there out o' the wind to light my pipe?

I'm peris.h.i.+n' for a smoke.”

They drew back into the corner, and the jovial rascal proceeded to strike match after match in the futile attempt to light his pipe, all the while standing directly in front of David and facing the street instead of sensibly turning his back toward it. With the flare of each match his face was illuminated briefly but clearly.

A more experienced observer than David would have grasped the significance of these maneuvers. But how was he to know that Ernie Cronk had been crouching in a sheltered doorway across the street, standing guard while his artful brother entered and ransacked the store whose awning now afforded him a comfortable refuge? And how was he to know that Ernie had glared out upon their tender love scene with eyes in which there was the most pitiable jealousy, the most implacable hatred? d.i.c.k Cronk, however, knew that his brother was over there and that he must have seen these two together in the flashes. Moreover, he knew that Ernie had been carrying a small derringer ever since his experience with the hoodlums earlier in the season.

That is why he stood before David and vainly tried to light his pipe.

”Why, you are perfectly dry,” exclaimed Christine, touching his coat sleeve.

”Have you been here all the time?” demanded David indignantly.

”What do you call all the time? I was here before you came, if that'll help you any. But,” he hastened to say, ”I reckon I went away before you dropped in. Now don't ask questions. If you axes no questions I'll tell you no lies.”

With the next flash of lightning he cast a furtive glance in the direction of the show window to their left. The heavy shutter was still open and banging noisily against the casing. A particularly brilliant flash a few moments later revealed to this sharp-eyed young man a huddled, black thing with a ghastly patch of white that he knew to be a face, in the doorway opposite.

”Where have you been for the past ten days, d.i.c.k? We've missed you.

I've asked your brother time and again--”

”Do you no good to ask Ernie, Jack,” said the pickpocket grimly. ”He ain't his brother's keeper, remember that. I've been taking my vacation, that's all. My work was likely to become too confining, so I took a notion for a change of air.”

A curious note of nervousness sounded in his voice. They were conscious of the fact that he was peering up and down the drenched, black street with quick, apprehensive eyes. Far below there was a lonely street lamp; another stood quite as far away in the opposite direction.

”The rain's lettin' up a bit, Jacky,” he said in hurried tones. ”You've got an umbrell'. Say, if I was you and Miss Christine I'd dig out for the hotel. It's only a block and a half.”

”We'll wait a few minutes--”

d.i.c.k pressed his arm instantly and said: ”Better go now, kid; better dig.”

Christine's sharper wits grasped his meaning. The secret of his sudden appearance was revealed to her in a twinkling. She clutched David's arm once more.

”Yes, come, Dav--Jack. I don't mind the rain. Mother will be so anxious.”

And then David understood.

”Why, d.i.c.k, you haven't been in--”

”s.h.!.+ You'll wake the guy that sleeps up there and he'll throw a bucket of water out on us for disturbin' him,” said the other with quiet sarcasm. ”Besides, this is no place for a young lady.”

”You're right,” cried David in no little trepidation. ”Come, Christine!” He had looked uneasily down the street. ”We can't stay here. If some one should happen to shout from the windows upstairs, we'd be mixed up in--”

”Say, Jack,” said d.i.c.k, detaining him an instant, ”come to Joey's room in half an hour. I've got something important to tell you. Good-night, Miss Christine. Sleep tight.”

”Do be careful, d.i.c.k,” she cried anxiously, over her shoulder.

He laughed jerkily. ”The devil takes care of his deputies. Look to yourself. G.o.d don't always take such excellent care of his angels.”