This unfortunate interruption of their party ended in a prolonged silence. In the end the two boys expressed sincere thanks for the splendid feast and begged to be excused.
Rosy, with an effort, summoned one of her sweetest smiles of farewell. As she stood there framed in the door, a brave little orphan of gangland’s making, Johnny could not help feeling that their common tragic interest in finding the man with a hole in his hand was destined to bring them very close together in the days that were to come. Nor was he far wrong.
CHAPTER XI
SWORN TO STAND BY
Johnny’s return to the radio studio that night caused quite a sensation. He arrived somewhat ahead of time. The girl who presided over the switchboard, one floor lower than the studio proper, was still at her post.
“Gee!” She stared at him, wide-eyed. “They nearly killed you, didn’t they?”
“Tried it, I guess,” Johnny admitted.
“And still you came back?”
“Lightning never strikes twice in the same place,” Johnny laughed.
“It does. I’ve seen it. Very same tree. Going to strike twice here, too. Something tells me that. You’ll see. They’ll bomb this place. When those Sicilians start a thing they never quit ’til they get what they want. That’s what my dad says. And he knows. I’m quitting; to-morrow night’s my last. Dad says, ‘Let the police do their own work.’ And that’s what I say, too.”
“If the officers of the law were not backed up by the honest people of a great city like this,” Johnny replied thoughtfully, “nobody’s life would be safe for a moment. In such times as these every man must do his duty.”