Pete lunged out and hit Paul on the cheek. “That’ll teach you not to get fresh,” he hissed.
“What’ll we do with them?” asked the gangster named Joe, addressing his mate. “You think we ought to dump them?”
“No,” was the snarling reply. “We’ll tie them up and leave it to the boss to do with them as he pleases.”
“What for?” demanded Joe. “They’re a couple of rats and we ought to get rid of them.”
“They’re kids,” argued Pete. “We dump them and you’ll have the cops on our tail.”
“The cops don’t need to know.”
“Never mind. Tie them up and don’t argue.”
The two gangsters faced each other and it seemed that they might get into a quarrel. “I say dump them,” shouted Joe.
“And I say no,” snarled back Pete.
Jack and Paul watched them face each other, leveling their guns. The boys thought it would be good luck if they did fight and kill each other. But in that case there would be shooting and they needed safe places to run to. However, Joe, the weaker of the two, gave in and muttered, “Okey. We’ll tie them up.”