A few moments later they turned in for the night. Johnny, however, did not sleep at once. He had been interested in all this newfound friend had told him. He had felt himself strangely stirred.
“If only I could have some real part,” he whispered to himself.
A few moments later he murmured half aloud, “That’s it! I believe I could do that. Anyway it’s worth the try. Do it first thing in the morning.”
With that he fell asleep.
CHAPTER IV
JOHNNY CALLS THE SQUADS
It was night: ten o’clock. Johnny stood atop a ten story building, looking off and down. A thousand white lights shone along an endless way. Like great black bugs with gleaming eyes, countless cars glided down that glistening boulevard. To the right, shimmering waters reflected the thousand lamps. And at the edge of this water, on a yellow ribbon of sand, a host of ant-like appearing creatures sported. These were human beings, men, women and children, city cave-dwellers out for a breath of fresh air and a dip in the lake before retiring for the night.
“How happy they are,” he murmured to himself as their shouts of joy came floating up to him. “And how happy they should be. The great Creator meant that they should be happy. And for the most part they have earned happiness, a brief hour of pure joy after a day of toil.
“‘One in three hundred,’” he recalled Drew’s words, “‘One in three hundred is a crook.’
“Ah well,” he sighed, “catching the crooks, and so making those others safer, happier, freer to enjoy their well earned rewards: that’s our job. And it’s a big one.”
These last were no idle words. Only a day had passed since his long talk with the young detective, Drew Lane; yet even in that brief span of time he had found for himself a part in the great work, in the task of detecting crime. A very, very small part it was, but a real one all the same.