“I don’t see how you can guarantee that,” grumbled Kid Plang.
“I promise it in the name of Howard Milmarsh!”
“You seem to think you have a right to speak for him,” persisted Plang. “How did you work that, if you haven’t seen him? You didn’t know we were coming here to-day. Nobody did for certain, because we kept it a secret. Bonesy can tell you that.”
“Shut up!” ordered Billings. “Leave me out while you’re takin’ it on yourself to conduct these here negotiations. I’ll ’tend to you later,” he added, with menacing significance.
“Well, I’m speakin’ for most of the crowd when I say we’re goin’ up them stairs,” rejoined Kid Plang. “We want to see Louden Powers an’ Andrew Lampton. This bunch hasn’t come all the way from New York without wantin’ a run for its money. An’ I’ll help ’em to get it.”
“Hey! Look there!” suddenly screamed the widow who had been prominent from the first. “There he is! See! Look at him!”
“Who?” roared half a dozen voices.
“Howard Milmarsh! There he is. I’ve seen his picters, an’ I know it’s him. He’s hidin’ behind them other two men! No, they’re shovin’ him back! I don’t care for nobody. I’m goin’ up!”
The woman tried to force herself to the front, but the mob was too solidly packed in, and she could not move.