“I’ll wait on him,” murmured Clancy, “and while I’m waiting I’ll be earning something and getting a start in this garage business. The Clancys are about due for a run of luck, and maybe this is where it starts.”
The big clock on the courthouse in the plaza was booming the hour of eight as Clancy got back to the Red Star Garage. At that time there was not much doing about the place, and Clancy passed through the wide doors and made his way to the rear room. A man—Pruitt, no doubt—was smoking a pipe in the office. Clancy did not stop to speak with him, but went directly to his own quarters.
He had bought a “jumper,” a pair of overalls, and a pair of gloves. These he took out of the paper in which they were wrapped, and laid them to one side.
“In the morning,” he thought whimsically, “I’ll get into them and begin rooting for the family. I’m going to make good, too, although I wish I was starting out with any other fellow than Rockwell.”
For a long time he sat in that dingy little room, thinking over the past, and trying to forecast the future. There was a man’s work ahead of Owen Clancy, but he faced it with an indomitable spirit. Collecting that note was only the beginning. After that had been accomplished, bigger things lay ahead.
An hour or two passed while he sat in the little room wrapped up in his reflections. Then, suddenly, he heard a sound that caused him to start bolt upright in his chair. Some one was tapping on the window. He turned to look, and saw a face pressed against the glass. It was the face of Jimmie Fortune, and Jimmie had a warning finger laid against his lips.
Clancy got to his feet and slowly approached the window. Fortune motioned upward with his hands, and Clancy carefully raised the sash.
“Somethin’ doin’, pard!” said Fortune, in a husky whisper. “I got to come in and tell you about it. Lock the door over there. I don’t want nobody buttin’ in on us. Make everythin’ tight, and then I’ll crawl in and bat the hull propersition up to you.”
Clancy secured the door, sliding the bolt softly. Meanwhile, Fortune had been climbing into the room. As soon as he was inside, he lowered the sash noiselessly and pulled down the shade.
“What’s the matter, Jimmie?” Owen inquired excitedly.