He must take his chance, anyway. It was his only chance. Voices were even then on the balcony. Quick as a cat, he lifted himself over the sill, lowering his length along the side of the blank brick wall until he was hanging by his hands, only the tips of his fingers showing over the window sill.
Allowing himself no time to think, he dropped, at the same time flinging his body outward so that it might not strike against the wall.
The ground seemed to come up to meet him and he landed with a jar that seemed to shake loose every tooth in his head. Lucky for him that the patch of ground beside the disreputable little hotel had never been filled in with cement. It was hard enough and lumpy enough, but it was not as hard as cement.
Satisfied that no bones were broken and that his legs were still in good working order, Joe wasted no time before making use of them.
Luckily there were no policemen guarding that side of the hotel. There were few windows, and those high, and no doors and evidently the prohibition agents had discounted the possibility of any one escaping from that quarter. Also they had come after “evidence” more than prisoners, a fact which also worked in Joe’s favor.
After skirting the rear of the building next to the hotel, Joe, straightening his clothing as well as he could, ventured out on the sidewalk. It was at that moment that he realized he had left his hat inside.
Probably no one, except the poor wretch who is unfortunate enough to have been in a similar predicament at one time or another, can possibly imagine what Joe felt at that moment. Also he had never before realized what an important part of a man’s attire a hat really is.
“You sort of get to take your head gear for granted, I guess,” he mused unhappily, as he walked along as nonchalantly as he could, trying to look as if it were his regular custom to appear hatless in the street.
But in spite of his valiant attempt to seem unconcerned he soon realized that, even in that rather disreputable quarter of the town, he was attracting unwelcome attention.
“Maybe I’ve got a black eye or a cut lip,” he mused miserably as he hurried along, trying not to notice the stares that followed him and the occasional laugh and gibe of some humorously inclined passer-by. “Shouldn’t wonder if I were a fit candidate for a circus side show. Some mess that was to get mixed up in!”