“Do you think that was the man who took the package?” Grace Palmer asked as they rode home.
“I think it may have been. I didn’t see his face clearly. It was too dark that morning. But his figure was much the same.”
“You had better tell your friend, Johnny Thompson, about this. Describe him. His ear was gone.”
“Cut clean off.”
Curlie did tell Johnny. Johnny told some one else, and something worth while came of it.
CHAPTER XXIV
A VISIT FROM “THE FERRET”
Johnny did not lack friends. Those who visited him during his brief illness were an interesting lot.
On the third night, just after darkness had fallen, “The Ferret” appeared. With him was the nameless youth, he of the burning eyes.
“The Ferret” seemed nervous and ill at ease. Johnny thought this strange; it was not at all like him. In the light of what took place later it was not to seem so strange.
“This lad,” “The Ferret” explained, walking the floor the while, “wants to know more about the city, about men who break the law, and those who are appointed to defend her honest citizens. Particularly he wants to know more about your friends, Drew Lane and Tom Howe.”