“You fellows wait here for me,” he said. “Keep the power turned on, Parsons, and have the car all ready to[Pg 43] start as soon as I come out. It’s possible that we may have to make a hurried get-away, in which case it would be inconvenient to have to wait until you cranked up.”
He was stepping to the sidewalk, when Carroll called to him:
“Hold on, there! If you’re such a stubborn idiot that you can’t be dissuaded from doing this crazy thing, I’m going with you. Do you think I’m going to stay quietly in this car while you’re inside that joint, being killed? I guess not! The chances are a hundred to one that there’ll be a rough-house as soon as you fire the flash,” he said. “I don’t suppose that even with me to help you we’ll stand much chance against that crowd; but, at all events, two’ll be better than one.”
“Three, you mean, Mr. Carroll,” exclaimed Parsons. “If there’s any fighting to be done, I’m in on it, too, of course. I guess nobody’ll steal the machine while we’re away.”
The Bulletin’s police reporter was such a frail-looking chap that Hawley could scarcely repress a smile at these words, although he greatly appreciated the spirit which prompted them.
“Much obliged to both of you,” the Camera Chap said; “but, really, I prefer to go alone. I think I can easily convince you that it will be a much better plan for you fellows to wait here in the machine.”
“I won’t hear of any such arrangement,” Carroll declared firmly. “If you go, I’m going, too; and if Parsons wants to come along, he’s welcome. The more the merrier. You may have your faults, Frank, old man, but I like you too well to be willing to sit passively here while you’re being beaten to a pulp around the corner.”
“I’m not going to be beaten to a pulp,” the Camera Chap protested, with a laugh. “I intend to use strategy. If I go alone, I feel confident I’ll be able to get away with it; but if you fellows insist upon butting in, you’ll surely queer me. I’m a stranger to that bunch at Dutch Louie’s, but you fellows are not. Both of you would be recognized as soon as you entered the place, and I’d have no chance to take the picture.”
Carroll had to admit that there was a lot in this argument, and, after a little more demurring, he grudgingly consented to let Hawley have his way in the matter.
“But I’m not going to stay here in the car,” he declared. “I’m going to hang around outside that joint, and keep my ears wide open. As soon as I hear the sound of a rough-house I’m coming in, for I’ll know then that, in spite of all your resourcefulness and ingenuity, strategy has failed.”