"Quarter to one," he answered. "What if they don't show——"
A shaft of light shot through the darkness from the door. It was the prearranged signal from Murphy to inform them that Gibson and Cummings were approaching. As if jerked by cords held in a single hand they straightened up from their lounging positions.
They heard the door open at the rear above them and footsteps on the floor, approaching until the noise was directly over their heads. Dust shook down on them from the grimy ceiling.
Simultaneously they pulled on their headgears and listened.
CHAPTER XX
As clearly and distinctly as though he was at a telephone John heard the voices of "Gink" Cummings and Gibson in the room above him. Smith began writing his shorthand record of the conversation they overheard as soon as the conspirators began talking.
"Well, what's new?" he heard a voice he knew to be Cummings' ask.
"Things are about the same," he heard Gibson reply. "I can't see how anything can happen now to beat us."