"Keep close together, ladies and gentlemen.We are going upstairs now to--"Jimmie Dale hugged back against the wall, sidled along it, and like a shadow slipped down to the end of the hall.The scuffling of two dozen pairs of feet mounting the creaky staircase drowned the slight sound as he cautiously opened a door; the darkness lay black, impenetrable, along the hall.And then, as cautiously as he had opened it, he closed the door behind him, and stood for an instant listening at the head of a ladder-like stairway, his automatic in his hand now.It was familiar ground to Larry the Bat.The steps led down to a cellar; and diagonally across from the foot of the steps was an opening, ingeniously hidden by a heterogeneous collection of odds and ends, boxes, cases, and rubbish from the pseudo tea shop above; a low opening in the wall to a passage that led on through the cellars of perhaps half a dozen adjoining houses, each of which latter was leased, in one name or another--by Chang Foo.
Jimmie Dale crept down the steps, and in another moment had gained the farther side of the cellar; then, skirting around the ruck of cases, he stooped suddenly and passed in through the opening in the wall.And now he halted once more.He was straining his eyes down a long, narrow passage, whose blackness was accentuated rather than relieved by curious wavering, gossamer threads of yellow light that showed here and there from under makeshift thresholds, from doors slightly ajar.Faint noises came to him, a muffled, intermittent clink of coin, a low, continuous, droning hum of voices; the sickly sweet smell of opium pricked at his nostrils.
Jimmie Dale's face set rigidly.It was the resort, not only of the most depraved Chinese element, but of the worst "white" thugs that made New York their headquarters--here, in the succession of cellars, roughly partitioned off to make a dozen rooms on either side of the passage, dope fiends sucked at the drug, and Chinese gamblers spent the greater part of their lives; here, murder was hatched and played too often to its hellish end; here, the scum of the underworld sought refuge from the police to the profit of Chang Foo; and here, somewhere, in one of these rooms, was--the Wowzer.
The Wowzer! Jimmie Dale stole forward silently, without a sound, swiftly--pausing only to listen for a second's space at the doors as he passed.From this one came that clink of coin; from another that jabber of Chinese; from still another that overpowering stench of opium--and once, iron-nerved as he was, a cold thrill passed over him.Let this lair of hell's wolves, so intent now on their own affairs, be once roused, as they certainly must be roused before he could hope to finish the Wowzer, and his chances of escape were--He straightened suddenly, alert, tense, strained.Voices, raised in a furious quarrel, came from a door just beyond him on the other side of the passage, where a film of light streamed out through a cracked panel--it was the Wowzer and Dago Jim! And drunk, both of them--and both in a blind fury!
It happened quick then, almost instantaneously it seemed to Jimmie Dale.He was crouched now close against the door, his eye to the crack in the panel.There was only one figure in sight--Dago Jim--standing beside a table on which burned a lamp, the table top littered with watches, purses, and small chatelaine bags.The man was lurching unsteadily on his feet, a vicious sneer of triumph on his face, waving tauntingly an open letter and Jimmie Dale's pocket-book in his hands--waving them presumably in the face of the Wowzer, whom, from the restrictions of the crack, Jimmie Dale could not see.
He was conscious of a sickening sense of disaster.His hope against hope had been in vain--the letter had been opened and read--THEIDENTITY OF THE GRAY SEAL WAS SOLVED.
Dago Jim's voice roared out, hoarse, blasphemous, in drunken rage:
"De Gray Seal--see! Youse betcher life I knows! I been waitin' fer somet'ing like dis, damn youse! Youse been stallin' on me fer a year every time it came to a divvy.Youse've got a pocketful now youse snitched to-night dat youse are tryin' to do me out of.Well, keep 'em"--he shoved his face forward."I keeps dis--see! Keep 'em Wowzer, youse cross-eyed--""Everyt'ing I pinched to-night's on de table dere wid wot youse pinched yerself," cut in the Wowzer, in a sullen, threatening growl.
"Youse lie, an' youse knows it!" retorted Dago Jim."Youse have given me de short end every time we've pulled a deal!""Dat letter's mine, youse--" bawled the Wowzer furiously.
"Why didn't youse open it an' read it, den, instead of lettin' me do it to keep me busy while youse short-changed me?" sneered Dago Jim.
"Youse t'ought it was some sweet billy-doo, eh? Well, t'anks, Wowzer--dat's wot it is! Say," he mocked, "dere's a guy'll cash a t'ousand century notes fer dis, an' if he don't--say, dere's SOMEreward out fer the Gray Seal! Wouldn't youse like to know who it is? Well, when I'm ridin' in me private buzz wagon, Wowzer, youse stick around an' mabbe I'll tell youse--an' mabbe I won't!""By God"--the Wowzer's voice rose in a scream--"youse hand over dat letter!""Youse go to--"
Red, lurid red, a stream of flame seemed to cut across Jimmie Dale's line of vision, came the roar of a revolver shot--and like a madman Jimmie Dale flung his body at the door.Rickety at best, it crashed inward, half wrenched from its hinges, precipitating him inside.He recovered himself and leaped forward.The room was swirling with blue eddies of smoke; Dago Jim, hands flung up, still grasping letter and pocketbook, pawed at the air--and plunged with a sagging lurch face downward to the floor.There was a yell and an oath from the Wowzer--the crack of another revolver shot, the hum of the bullet past Jimmie Dale's ear, the scorch of the tongue flame in his face, and he was upon the other.