"I was sure of it," he said again, as he neared the corner, at the end of the block farthest from his home. "There they are, both of them."
He was looking ahead, where a cab was coming at a slow trot toward him, while around the corner, still nearer, a policeman had just appeared.
As the two men approached each other the officer, who had been looking toward the approaching cab, turned his face toward Brierly, just as he was passing under the glare of a street lamp, and stopped short.
"Excuse me, sir; this is Mr. Brierly, I believe?"
Brierly nodded.
"Mr. Brierly, may I have a few words with you? I have been lately put upon this beat, sir; changed from the next lower one; and there is something you ought, for your own safety, to know. Will you walk a few steps with me? I hardly like to stop; I ought to be at the next corner right now, in fact."
Brierly looked toward the approaching cab. "The truth is," he said, "I want very much to get that cab down town; otherwise——"
"Oh, I'll fix that, sir." And the officer took a step out from the curbstone and, standing under the glare of the light just above, held up his hand, and whistled shrilly. "Follow us a few steps, Johnny," he said to the driver. "You are wanted down town." Then, turning toward Brierly, "If you'll just step across the street after me, I'll tell you what you ought to know. It's a short story." And he crossed the street briskly, and paused on the opposite side to await the other.
"You see, sir," he began, as Brierly joined him, "we can walk slow for a few steps here, where all's quiet."