“Dat’s a good one!” he said gleefully. “I got de bloke in good. Uncle Sam offered me half a dollar if I’d do it. I’ll strike him for a dollar if I can.”
After waiting five minutes Gerald tried a second fusillade on the door. This brought a response, not from his young jailer, but from a choleric German who lived opposite.
“I say, you stop dat or I’ll come in and break your kopf!” he said.
“Come in!” cried Gerald eagerly. “I have been locked in.”
“If I come in I mash you!”
“Come in, and I’ll take the risk.”
“How I come in widout de key?”
“I don’t know unless you break open the door.”
“And pay damages to de landlord? Not much, nein, I guess not,” and the stout German walked away.
“I suppose I shall have to wait till some one else comes,” said Gerald to himself, and he sat down on a wooden chair without a back.