“Suppose you describe the man.”
“He was about average height and middle-aged. No glasses, though. He couldn’t have been down and out very long, because he still wore a ring.”
“Describe it, please,” requested Penny.
“It was a gold ring with a picture of a snake on it—some sort of order probably.”
“The plumed serpent!” exclaimed Penny. “Jerry, perhaps Tommy was right!”
“Take us to this man,” the reporter directed the landlady.
“How do I know if he’s still here? The men come and go and so long as they’re paid up, I don’t pay no attention. What’s he done anyhow?”
“Nothing very serious,” Jerry replied. “Anyway, we’re not from the police station.”
The woman’s pretended friendliness vanished. “Then what you pryin’ around here for?” she demanded. “Who are you anyhow?”
“We’re newspaper reporters.”