“Out of the way, below! Stand aside!”
He had come down the fire escape ladder on the run. There was no ladder to the ground, of course, and he swung from the lower platform to drop.
Ralph, hearing the men coming down the lower flight of stairs, turned and banged to the outer door and held it. The men tried to turn the knob, but the young train dispatcher had a grip of iron.
“All right, boy!” shrilled Zeph, as he dropped. “Where’s that chap I overturned?”
“He’s thrashing on his back there,” said Ralph coolly. “Let him alone. Be ready to run.”
“That’s the thing I’m most ready for,” admitted Zeph. “Come on!”
Ralph leaped away from the door and followed his friend up the alley. They were a block away in two minutes, and were not followed. Ralph overtook Zeph and dragged him down to a walk.
“Gee!” exclaimed Dallas, “that was a close call——”
“And a silly one,” declared the train dispatcher. “Another of the times when you jumped without looking. You had no business in that house.”
“Yes, I had. Wasn’t that Andy McCarrey?”