"Gee," said Donovan, "I certainly am sick of this whole business! Well—come back in an hour an’ forty-five minutes an’ we’ll see what’s doin’."
"You’re a hell of a cop, you are! What sort of a job do you think you’ve got, anyway? Rag-pickin’?"
Guth, who was used to these rages, stood at attention. The scar from his mouth to the corner of his jaw-bone twitched heavily.
"I done all I could, Lieutenant," he said.
"You’re a liar!" said Donovan. "You’ve been on this job Gawd knows how long, an’ your foot’s slipped twice. All you’ve found is that he hasn’t got any safety-deposit box. You know he must have the goods at his office, an’ you’re afraid to get ’em."
"They might be at his apartment house," said Guth. He shifted his feet uneasily.
"They might be, but they ain’t. I had Anderson play that end of it. What d’you mean lettin’ Reddy Rawn t’row you down this way?"
"He ain’t t’rowed me down. He wouldn’t dare."
"Wouldn’t he? Well, then, he’s stallin’ you all right, all right, an’ he’s had a cinch doin’ it. This thing’s got to stop. I got to have them letters right off. To-night. Now. Get that?"
The giant subordinate gnawed his upper lip.
"That’s goin’ some, Lieutenant," he said.
"If you don’t do it, you’ll be goin’ more: you’ll be goin’ off the force. Now then: you beat it. Get Reddy on the job. Tell him Mitchell knows the officer on that beat an’ ’ll see he an’ his friends ain’t interfered with. Nobody’ll be in the offices to-night; they’ve all been over to Cooper Union an’ ’ll be tired out. Reddy’ll be as safe as if he was at home in bed. He’d better have the Kid to help him." Donovan banged the table with his fist. "I want you back here in an hour with everything that’s inside that fellow Huber’s safe. See?"
§8. In that shadowy alley near Forty-third Street and Third Avenue, where he had talked to Reddy Rawn before, Patrolman Guth talked now with Reddy Rawn and the Kid.
"It ain’t my fault," he said. "I’ve stood him off as long as I could. You gotta do it now, an’ if you don’t he’ll have you two up for Crab Rotello’s assault. I know it. He means business this time. You can crack a safe, Kid, can’t you?"
§9. On the stage at Cooper Union, Luke was holding an impromptu reception. Hundreds of people were streaming by him and shaking his hand. His arm ached, but he was proud and glad.