“You don’t like Schaack, and I don’t like him. He is now here at the Desplaines Street Station. We can go into the alley and shoot him in his office. I have a revolver here with me now, and I will go into Florus’ and get one more. Then we will go and ‘do him.’ We will both go and fire together and run. But mind, let there be no arrest in our case; let us die before capture.”
“Do you mean this?” asked Hageman.
“Here is my hand. Here is my revolver, and if you play coward on me I will kill you standing up. Now, come on.”
Did Hageman respond? Not at all. He crawled on his belly with excuses.
“That man Schaack,” he said, “knows me so well that it is not safe to go around there.”
“Well,” replied his companion, “we can go through a vacant lot.”
“It is too dangerous, my boy,” said Hageman. “I could do all this well enough if I never would be found out.”
“Well,” said the companion, “you are a crazy coward, and don’t you ‘shoot your mouth’ hereafter where I am.”
Hageman subsided for the time, but he is again as rampant as ever.