He left the closet and went into the bedroom. Dennis paused in the act of tamping his pipe to listen open-mouthed, for an unaccustomed sound came to his ears. McCarty was whistling, wheezily and off-key, but there was something oddly reminiscent in the simple, insistently reiterated measure; moreover McCarty never indulged in that or any other form of melodious expression unless in a blatant attempt at dissimulation. What was he doing, anyway, that he didn’t want his own pal to get on to? He’d opened and shut the door of his clothes-closet and now he was in the bathroom, still trying to whistle that funny little tune, almost like the ones Molly’s kid learned at the kindergarten!
Dennis returned to his pipe, as McCarty reëntered the room.
“Did you find what you were looking for?” he asked.
McCarty reddened.
“I did not, but no matter,” he replied shortly. “I unearthed an old kit of burglars’ tools that I took once off of Black Matt, that’ll maybe come in handy and here’s a revolver for you.”
“I’ve no use for it!” remarked Dennis hastily, regarding the weapon with small favor. “Something short and hefty is more in my line, with no trigger to go off unexpected and send me to the chair!”
“Do you think I’d trust you with it if it was loaded?” his host retorted. “’Tis only to throw a bluff if we’re cornered. We’ll be wearing handkerchiefs over our faces like movie burglars, for whatever comes we don’t want to be recognized. It don’t matter what tracks we leave behind us as long as we get clear ourselves so we’ll take these nippers to cut every wire we see.”
“And to-morrow there’ll be a new job for us, tracking our own selves!” Dennis grinned, and then his face sobered. “We’ve the hardest job on our hands that ever we tackled, Mac, with this inhuman devil to lay low!”
“I’ve a creepy feeling that there’s more than him at work.” McCarty dropped the tools he had been sorting and stared reflectively into space. “I don’t know how to put it, but it seems as if there was something powerful and as evil as a spirit from Hell itself that’s helping the wretch in his destruction! He’s getting bolder, Denny, he’ll over-reach himself yet. If we could figure who’s to be the next we could close in on him!”
“’Tis too deep for me.” Dennis shook his head. “Is there a glass-cutter and a lump of putty in that layout?”