Picking up his hat, which lay a little distance from where the coat had dropped, he hurried off toward the nearest street lamp. Then, with deft fingers, he began searching the coat pockets.
He found some cigars and a memorandum book; also a short-barreled, loaded revolver. But there was no money.
"That's the way luck handles me," he muttered angrily, casting the coat aside. "Cigars never did agree with me, and I've got as much use for the gun as I have for the notebook. But, say! Maybe I can leave the pepper box with some gent at the sign of the three balls."
He dropped the revolver into his pocket; then, quite casually, he opened the memorandum book and began turning the leaves. The street light was wavering and none too good, but he drew closer to it and ran his eyes over the pages.
Then, suddenly, he chanced upon something that caused him to draw in a long breath.
"Oh, sister!" he exclaimed, drumming his knuckles delightedly against his forehead. "If here ain't a chance to even up with that sure-thing crowd, I'm a geezer. If I can't go with them and take my share of the loot, I can go against them and help separate them from the lot of it. 'Bayou Yamousa!' That ought to be easily found. Bayou Yamousa for mine, and I'm on the level from this on. That's straight, and no stringin'. Bangs will throw a fit when he finds out he's lost his coat, but it's a lead pipe he won't come back for it."
Then, as Dashington dropped the memorandum book into his pocket, he had another thought.
The police! For what he had done that night, even though he had failed to benefit by it, there was a chance of his getting caught and "doing time."
How long would it be before Motor Matt reached the house in Prytania Street? And how long after that before the law would be called in to do what it could toward overhauling the thieves and recovering the diamonds?
"If I stand to win in this little game of one call three," he muttered, "I've got to duck good and hard. If I'm pinched now, it means an easy getaway for Jurgens, Whistler, and Bangs. But I'm not going to be run in. I guess I'm keen enough to dodge the law while hunting for Bayou Yamousa and giving those pinheads a taste of their own dope. Me for the tall and uncut--and here goes."