It was several minutes ere Jack returned, coming up almost breathlessly.
"Sorry to keep you waiting, boys," he spoke, hastily. "But I'm here at last."
"Oh, that's all right, messmate. Come along and we'll pilot you straight to your friend, Winter—"
"Somers," corrected the other sailor.
Between the pair, some two minutes later, Jack Benson turned off a side street into an alleyway. The houses down in this alley were dark. Most of the little buildings here were occupied only in the daytime, as junk shops and old rag stores.
"Don't mind the dark," spoke one of the sailors, as he pushed open a door. "There's light enough on the second floor. That's where you'll find your friend, Winter."
"Somers," remonstrated the second sailor.
On the dark stairway Jack Benson found himself suddenly attacked, not only by the sailor pair, but by at least two other men, as well.