The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1922-04-13
~ostinued from Yesterday


 knocked softly upon it-giving two raps, single rap, and then two more n quick succession. There was m answer. He knocked again in pre- cisely the same manner, and then a. footstep sounded from within, and the door was flung open.
 FooIS!" growled Shluker in greet ing, as they stepped inside and the door was closed again. "A pair of brainless fools!''
 There were two men there They paid Shluker scant attention They both gr1nned at Rhoda Gray through the murky light supplied by wheezy wholly inadequate gas-jet
 Hello, Nan!" gibed the smaller of the two. Who let you out?"
 LAW, forget it!'' crooked Rhoda Gray.
 Shluker took up the cudgels
 You close you face, Pinkiei" he snapped. 'Get down to cases! Do you think I got nothing else to do but chase you two around like a cou- pie Of puppy dogs that haven't got sense enough to take care of them selves? Wasn't what I told you over the phone enough without me havin' to come here?''
 'Nix on that stuff" returned the one designated as Pinkie imperturb- ably. Say. you'll be glad you come when we lets you in a little piece Of easy money. We ain't askin' VOLT advice; all we're asking you to do IS frame up the a1ibi, same as usual for me an the Pug here in case we wants it.'
 Shluker shook his fist
 Frame nothing!" he spluttered angrily. "Ain't telIin' you that the orders are not to make a move, that everything is off for few days? That's the word I got a little while ago, and the Nine is gotn' out now. Nan'n tell you the same thing"
 "Sure!' corroborated Rhoda Gray, picking up the obvious cue. Oats de straight goods.''
 The two men were 1ounging beside a table that stood at the extreme end of the room, and now for a moment they whispered together. And, as they whispered, Rhoda Gray found | her first opportunity to take critical | stock both of her surroundings and of | the two men themselves, Pinkie, a | short, slight little man, she dismissed | with hardly a glance; he was the com | mon type, with low, vious cunning stamped all over his face-an ordi- l nary rat of the underworld, But her l glance rested longer on his compan- | m. The Pug was indeed entitled | D his moniker! His face made her |
 
 screwed up out of shape. Perhaps | the eye-patch over the right eye help | ed a little to put the finishing touch !! of repulsiveness upon a countenance already most unpleasant. The cellu- l Ibid eye-patchs once f1esh-colored | was now so dirty and smeared that it's 1 original color was discernib1e only in 1 spots, and the once white elastic cord that circled his head and kept the patch in place was in equal disrepute A battered s1ouch hat came to the level of the eye-patch in a forbidding sort of tilt. His left eye-1id dropped | until it was scarely open at all, and fluttered continually. One nostril of | his nose was entirely closed; and his | mouth seemed to be twisted out of | shape, so that, even when in repose l the lips never entirely met at one | corner. And his ears, what she | could see of them in the poor light, | and on account of the s1ouch hat, | seemed to bear out the low-type crim- | inal impression the man gave her, in | that they lay flat back against his i head.
 She turned her eyes away with a | little shudder of repulsion, and gave | her attention to an inspection of the 1 room. There was no window, except | a small one high up in the right hand partition wall. She quite un- derstood what that meant It was common enough, and all too unsani- tary enough, in these old and cheap tenements; the window gave, not on the out-of-doors, but on a light-well. Tor the rest, it was a room she had seen a thousand times -before-carpet- less, unfurnished save for the barest necessities. dirt everywhere unkempt
 Pinkie Bonn broke in abruptly upon her inspection.
 That's all rightly" he announced airily> wen let Nan in on it. too. The Pug an me figures she can give us a hand"
 Shluker's wizened little face seemed 1 suddenly to so purple
 Are you trytn' to make a fool of 1ae?" he half screamed. Or can't you understand English? Dye want mo to keep on tellin' you till I'm hoarse that thereain't nobody goin In with you, because you amt goin' in yourself! See? Understand that? There's nothing doin' tonight for anybody - and that means you!"
 JAW. shut up, Shluker!" It was the Pug now. a curious whispering siohancy In his voice. due no doubt to the disfigurement of his lips. 'Give P:nkie chance to shoot. his spiel before youse injure yerself throwtn' fit! Go on. Pinkie, spill it"
 ''Sure!" said Pinkie eagerly Lis teen, Shluk! It ain't any crib we're ( wantin' to crack. or uothin' like that | It's just couple of crooks that won't dare open their yaps to the bulls l 'cause what we're after II be what ( they'll have pinched themselves. See % ( Shluker's face lost some of its belN- ( gerency, and in tts place a dawning z interest came.
 Whats that?" he'd emanded curi- | ousiy. What crookS?''
 l Pinkie-and grinned.
 "Oh!" Shluker's eyebrows went up | s He looked at the Pug, and the Pug winked kncHin sly with his half-cIosed t left eyelid. Shluker reached out for 6 chair, and, finding 1t suspiciously '