“All right, Mr. Carter. No offense,” and the burglar laughed. “I’m not broke. This rig I’ve got on is a disguise. I can look the hobo, and play the part, too, to beat the band, when it happens to be of advantage for me to do so. I picked up the fact that you were out of town and were expected to arrive home yesterday or to-day, and so, as I wanted to catch you as soon as you appeared, and to do that had to hang around the vicinity of your doorstep until you came, I just adopted the hobo rig; see?”
“Yes; I see. But what for? Why did you wish to see me? I should suppose that I would be about the last person on top of earth whom you would wish to see.”
Morgan grinned.
“Well, Mr. Carter,” he said, “ordinarily that is the case; but there happened to be a reason or two why I thought you would appreciate my society just now.”
“How is that, Morgan? You haven’t turned stool-pigeon since your imprisonment, have you? You are the last crook in the city whom I would pick out for an informer against his kind.”
“Well, sir, I’m much obliged to you for that opinion—and it’s a correct one, too. Nobody ever accused Red Morgan of being a squealer—bet your life on that. All the same, that is about the size of my present contract.”
“Do you mean that you have come here to betray——”
“Hold on, please. That is a hard word for me to swallow, even though it does amount to a betrayal in one way. But, on the other hand, it isn’t a betrayal at all, for the guns I’m going to peach about are not pals of mine and never could be. It isn’t my fault that they made a lay for me and wanted me to get on board their machine with them. Can’t you take me inside, Mr. Carter? I’ve got a lot to tell you.”
Nick hesitated and Morgan continued:
“These clothes aren’t as bad as they look. You know that I’m rather a clean sort of a chap, and this rig is one I fixed up myself. There’s a lot about it that looks like filth, but it’s really good, clean dirt, gathered from a country roadside—and I won’t ask you to let me sit down. I didn’t come for that, and I probably won’t stay half an hour.”