“I was in the sticks walking a beat then. They gave me a job on the detective force, and I received a hundred dollars reward from one of the papers. So you see, life as a copper isn’t so bad, providing you get the breaks.”
“Yes,” Johnny said slowly, “Providing you do.”
“I suppose,” said Drew after stirring his coffee reflectively for a time, “that I should be satisfied. And I am, reasonably so. But you know, pickpockets are very small game. It’s necessary enough that they should be mopped up. But it’s like hunting rabbits when there are grizzly bears about. I’d like to get in on something big.
“Things are going to happen in this old town. Judges are getting better. The prosecutors are working harder. The honest people are waking up. One of these fine days the order will be given to break up every gang in town; bring them in or drive them out. I want to be in on that.”
“You will,” said Johnny. “They won’t be able to do it without you. They need a thousand like you, a Legion of Youth.”
“You are right!” Drew put his cup down with a crash. “College men. That’s what they need. Men may sneer at them. They needn’t. I’m a college man, and I’m proud of it.
“Know what?” His eyes shone. “They are going to put courses in criminology in the colleges and universities. They’ll do more than that. They’ll teach young fellows how to be good detectives. Why not? They teach them everything else. Why not that?”
“They will,” said Johnny. “And I’d like to take the course myself.”
CHAPTER XV
JOHNNY FINDS A MAN
That night Sergeant McCarthey visited Johnny in his cubby-hole by the big radio studio.