"Look at the kid!" one of the men at the table Ned was watching said. "Looks like he was on South Clark street, Chicago."
"Don't get gay, now!" Jimmie retorted. "I'm playin' I'm a tug towin' this 'ere sailorman to bed."
"You've got a job on your hands," the other said, and then the three at the table bent their heads forward and talked in whispers. Now and then they faced toward the doorway, but Ned was then too far toward the street for them to observe him.
They did not seem at all suspicious of Jimmie, and Ned concluded that such occurrences were not uncommon there. Jimmie seated his companion more firmly in his chair in a moment and passed out, stopping at the doorway where Ned stood.
"You duck!" the boy said. "That man in there with the sailors followed you here, an' I followed him here. You duck!"
"I haven't got the information I'm after yet," Ned said. "How in the world did you get here?"
"Followed the chap that followed you," was the quick reply. "Out here I come upon that beery sailor and took him in tow!"
"Good idea," Ned said. "Now, you slip past me and go up stairs, to the room in front, and see if the man there can be gotten away. I want to size up the men in there. I can see them by poking my head out occasionally, but they can't see me."
"Well, you keep your gun ready," Jimmie warned. "This ain't New York, with a cop every half block an' a taxicab always within reach. This is Yokohama! Don't you forget that!"
"Don't remain up there long!" said Ned.