There was an ugly smirk on the man’s lips and he spoke the last words as if gloating over the ordeal in store for the other.
The Phantom shrugged his shoulders. “I can explain things to the big chief. What worries me is the bracelet on my wrist!”
“I’ll get the key out of the cop’s pocket,” announced the little man.
The Phantom gazed after him as he left the room. A little while ago he had told himself that only a stroke of magic could save him, and the weazened creature’s appearance at the crucial moment seemed almost miraculous. Yet he looked a trifle dubious.
“I’m coming out of the fire,” he mumbled, “but I haven’t the least idea what the frying pan will be like. The little rat may be hard to shake, and Pinto will spoil my alibi as soon as he comes out of oblivion.”
The small man returned and tossed a metallic object at the Phantom’s feet, then stood aside, with pistol leveled, while the handcuffs were being unlocked. His sharp eyes followed every move the Phantom made, but evidently there was not the faintest suspicion in his mind as to the identity of the man with whom he was dealing. In all likelihood he knew Granger but slightly and had never seen much of him.
“There!” exclaimed the Phantom as the link around his wrist parted. “Pinto will be the most surprised cop in creation when he walks in here and finds the bird flown. I’m dying for a smoke.”
He rose to his feet and struck the match, glancing narrowly at the other as he lighted his cigarette. There was a look of habitual alertness in the little man’s glittering eyes, and the pistol in his hand more than equalized his physical disadvantage.
“Look here, Granger,” he said in harsh, wheezy tones, “I don’t quite know how to size you up, but you and the chief are going to have a chat directly. I’m putting my gat inside my pocket—like this. I’ll have my finger on the trigger all the time, so you’d better watch your step. We’re off.”
He motioned the Phantom to start. With a hard pull on his cigarette, the Phantom drew in all the smoke his mouth could hold, strolled forward with an easy swagger, and, turning abruptly on the little man, blew a cloud of smoke into his face.