“Do you go to the heart of the city?”
“No, we stop at the barns. Say, have you noticed that Jap in there?”
The conductor nodded toward Maku.
“What about him?”
“He was put aboard by a cop. Looks as though somebody had slugged him.”
“That’s so,” commented Orme. “His head is bandaged.”
“Judging from the bandage, it must have been a nasty crack,” continued the conductor. “But you wouldn’t know he’d been hurt from his face. Say, you can’t tell anything about those Johns from their looks, can you, now?”
“You certainly can’t,” replied Orme.
The conductor glanced out. “There’s the elevated,” he said. “I’ll have to go in and wake that drunk. He gets off here.”
Orme watched the conductor go to the man who was sleeping in the corner and shake him. The man nodded his head vaguely, and settled back into slumber. Through the open door came the conductor’s voice: “Wake up!”—Shake—“You get off here!”—Shake—“Wake up, there!” But the man would not awaken.