“O.K.! You watch in back. I’ll keep an eye on the street.”
The men resumed their conversation as they assumed this new watch.
“If he ever gets to Glutz’s place, it’s curtains for him,” was the comment.
“Sure thing. If he was in that little hole away from the corner, he’d be all right. But let him try to get in!”
“And let him try to get out!”
The men’s whispered voices, guarded though they were, sounded loud in the alley. Their noise was sufficient to drown near-by noises. Hence the men did not hear as something glided along the center of the alley, to stop between them.
Even had they been silent — as they now became — they could not have detected the presence of the form.
For the man who was concealed in the darkness crouched low. Not even his breathing was audible.
The entrance of the alley was particularly dark, because the nearest street light was on the other side of the corner of the near-by crossing.
A deserted house stood across the street. It was one house of a closely built block. The gloom of the alley seemed to project itself, like a flood of darkness; across the street.