Billy's voice grew indignant at the recollection.
'You gave him the hook, I guess?' queried the interested Kid.
'To such an extent, Comrade Brady,' said Psmith, 'that he left breathing threatenings and slaughter. And it is for that reason that we have ventured to call upon you.'
'It's this way,' said Billy. 'We're pretty sure by this time that whoever the man is this fellow Parker's working for has put one of the gangs on to us.'
'You don't say!' exclaimed the Kid. 'Gum! Mr. Windsor, they're tough propositions, those gangs.'
'We've been followed in the streets, and once they put up a bluff to get us where they could do us in. So we've come along to you. We can look after ourselves out of the office, you see, but what we want is some one to help in case they try to rush us there.'
'In brief, a fighting-editor,' said Psmith. 'At all costs we must have privacy. No writer can prune and polish his sentences to his satisfaction if he is compelled constantly to break off in order to eject boisterous hooligans. We therefore offer you the job of sitting in the outer room and intercepting these bravoes before they can reach us. The salary we leave to you. There are doubloons and to spare in the old oak chest. Take what you need and put the rest--if any--back. How does the offer strike you, Comrade Brady?'
'We don't want to get you in under false pretences, Kid,' said Billy. 'Of course, they may not come anywhere near the office. But still, if they did, there would be something doing. What do you feel about it?'
'Gents,' said the Kid, 'it's this way.'
He stepped into his coat, and resumed.
'Now that I've made good by getting the decision over Al., they'll be giving me a chance of a big fight. Maybe with Jimmy Garvin. Well, if that happens, see what I mean? I'll have to be going away somewhere and getting into training. I shouldn't be able to come and sit with you. But, if you gents feel like it, I'd be mighty glad to come in till I'm wanted to go into training-camp.'
'Great,' said Billy; 'that would suit us all the way up. If you'd do that, Kid, we'd be tickled to death.'
'And touching salary--' put in Psmith.
'Shucks!' said the Kid with emphasis. 'Nix on the salary thing. I wouldn't take a dime. If it hadn't a-been for you gents, I'd have been waiting still for a chance of lining up in the championship class. That's good enough for me. Any old thing you gents want me to do, I'll do it. And glad, too.'
'Comrade Brady,' said Psmith warmly, 'you are, if I may say so, the goods. You are, beyond a doubt, supremely the stuff. We three, then, hand-in-hand, will face the foe; and if the foe has good, sound sense, he will keep right away. You appear to be ready. Shall we meander forth?'
The building was empty and the lights were out when they emerged from the dressing-room. They had to grope their way in darkness. It was still raining when they reached the street, and the only signs of life were a moist policeman and the distant glare of public-house lights down the road.
They turned off to the left, and, after walking some hundred yards, found themselves in a blind alley.
'Hullo!' said Billy. 'Where have we come to?'
Psmith sighed.
'In my trusting way,' he said, 'I had imagined that either you or Comrade Brady was in charge of this expedition and taking me by a known route to the nearest Subway station. I did not think to ask. I placed myself, without hesitation, wholly in your hands.'
'I thought the Kid knew the way,' said Billy.
'I was just taggin' along with you gents,' protested the light-weight, 'I thought you was taking me right. This is the first time I been up here.'
'Next time we three go on a little jaunt anywhere,' said Psmith resignedly, 'it would be as well to take a map and a corps of guides with us. Otherwise we shall start for Broadway and finish up at Minneapolis.'
They emerged from the blind alley and stood in the dark street, looking doubtfully up and down it.
'Aha!' said Psmith suddenly, 'I perceive a native. Several natives, in fact. Quite a little covey of them. We will put our case before them, concealing nothing, and rely on their advice to take us to our goal.'
A little knot of men was approaching from the left. In the darkness it was impossible to say how many of them there were. Psmith stepped forward, the Kid at his side.
'Excuse me, sir,' he said to the leader, 'but if you can spare me a moment of your valuable time--'
There was a sudden shuffle of feet on the pavement, a quick movement on the part of the Kid, a chunky sound as of wood striking wood, and the man Psmith had been addressing fell to the ground in a heap.
As he fell, something dropped from his hand on to the pavement with a bump and a rattle. Stooping swiftly, the Kid picked it up, and handed it to Psmith. His fingers closed upon it. It was a short, wicked-looking little bludgeon, the black-jack of the New York tough.
'Get busy,' advised the Kid briefly.
CHAPTER XVI
THE FIRST BATTLE
The promptitude and despatch with which the Kid had attended to the gentleman with the black-jack had not been without its effect on the followers of the stricken one. Physical courage is not an outstanding quality of the New York hooligan. His personal preference is for retreat when it is a question of unpleasantness with a stranger. And, in any case, even when warring among themselves, the gangs exhibit a lively distaste for the hard knocks of hand-to-hand fighting. Their chosen method of battling is to lie down on the ground and shoot. This is more suited to their physique, which is rarely great. The gangsman, as a rule, is stunted and slight of build.
