Twice afterwards he paused to chat with the boy, whose name was Conners. Then came the final exhibitions, and when it was all over Micky had to hurry home to look after some chores which must be done before supper.
His patrol had won out by a narrow margin, and he was in high spirits as he took a short cut through a rather slummy part of town. Swinging briskly along the narrow street, he entertained himself by recalling some of the amusing happenings of the afternoon. Fat Ritter had been particularly funny in the one-legged race, and Micky was thinking how he would josh the fellow next time they met, when he suddenly realized that a few hundred yards ahead three figures were lined up against a factory wall, watching him intently.
One of them was Conners; another he did not know by name. The third was swaggering Red Garrity. There was something unmistakably ominous in their attitude of quiet waiting. Things he had heard of as happening to scouts at the hands of this red haired hooligan and his followers flashed into Micky’s brain, and for a second his pace faltered and he almost stopped.
Then abruptly his head went up and his jaw squared. Swiftly he resumed his stride and came on steadily. His lips were firm, his eyes set straight ahead; and though it must be confessed that his heart was beating rather rapidly, he did not show it.
CHAPTER XVI
ROUGHNECK GARRITY
When Red Garrity left the Green, he sauntered down a side street to a small tobacco store where he bought a package of cheap cigarettes. Outside the door he met Shrimp McGowan and the two lounged on a corner for half an hour or so before deciding to indulge in a soda. This also took some time and when it was finally over they strolled toward the section of town that was filled with factories and cheap dwellings in a languid search for Chick Conners.
In the end it was Conners himself who did the finding. Speeding homeward from the Green, he overtook the two cronies dawdling along in front of a factory. His appearance met with slightly aggrieved inquiries.
“Where you been all afternoon?” demanded Garrity.
“Yes,” chimed in McGowan, “we’ve been looking all over town for you.”
Conners sniffed. “You couldn’t have looked very hard,” he commented. “I just come from seeing the boy scouts on the Green.”