Late that night Jimmie made his way to that dark and forbidding section of the city in which the tapping had been heard.
Assured by the watchman of the near-by factory that the tapping was going on again, he took his place well in the shadows behind a window.
His watch was long. Twice he fell asleep to awake with a start. To keep himself awake he set himself wondering about many things. There was the ball game that would be played day after tomorrow. Would the Bubble Man be there? Or, would Tom Howe get him before that? There was the reward. He wished he might get in on that. It would pay for his first year at college. People said it was best not to work the first year. Yet he must work unless——
Was his watch to be futile? Was his theory all wrong? Did those men enter some other way? He took to studying the windows, the tall first-story windows, the coal chute and all other possible entrances. Repair work was going on in the street, had been for days. A new water main was being laid. A cave-in had delayed the work. The place was boarded up to hold the earth in place. Seemed like streets in this city were always torn up. Seemed like——
Once again he fell asleep to wake with a start. This wouldn’t do. Dawn was approaching. A milk wagon lumbered down the street. Those men would leave with the dawn.
Rising, he began pacing the floor. He had kept this up for a quarter of an hour when he stopped dead in his tracks to stare in astonishment. Then he reached for his new camera with the telescopic lens.
What had happened? Two of the boards in that street embankment had been lifted aside. A man dressed in a workman’s garb, was coming out. Jimmie guessed he was no ordinary workman. Waiting until his full profile was exposed, the boy snapped his picture twice. Not much light, but perhaps enough for a sort of shadow picture.
Another man came out, another and yet another. The boards were replaced. The three men marched down the street. There was in their walk more of a lockstep than the slow slouch of tired workmen.
Jimmie went down to drink a steaming cup of coffee, then to sleep for two hours in a big, soft chair.
After that he burst into Scottie’s studio to place a film on his table and exclaim: