"What can be done to save him?" John asked.
"An operation is about the only thing," the surgeon replied. "He's pretty far gone."
"Operate then," said John. "Get the best surgeons in the city to help you. Spare no expense."
An hour later Murphy was on the operating table with three of the most capable surgeons in Los Angeles working with all their skill and science to hold the flickering life in his body. Not knowing where to find Brennan, John telephoned to P. Q.
"I'll get in touch with the mayor and have him tell Sweeney to put every available detective on the case," the city editor said. "Do everything you can for Murphy. Be careful yourself. If the 'Gink' knows what Murphy has done he knows that you and Brennan were with him. He'll not stop at anything. I'll try to find Brennan."
While Murphy was in the operating room, Chief Sweeney, with a squad of detectives, appeared at the hospital and questioned John.
"I've just talked with the mayor," Sweeney said. "He has told me enough of what has happened to convince me that the 'Gink's' men did this. I'm going out now to arrest Cummings on suspicion and hold him in jail until we see how Murphy comes out. If he dies, I'll charge Cummings with murder if it's the last thing I do on earth."
John noticed as Sweeney and the detectives hurried away that several of them carried sawed-off shotguns.
A few minutes later they wheeled Murphy out of the operating room on a carrier and placed him on a cot in one of the wards. John approached one of the surgeons, swathed in sterilized clothes and apron.
"Will he live, doctor?" he asked in trepidation.