"Back in a minute," Clay told him, and passed into the drug-store.
The abduction was still being discussed. There was a disagreement as to whether the girl had stepped voluntarily into the car or been lifted in by the man outside. This struck the cattleman as unimportant. He pushed home questions as to identification. One of the men in the drug-store had caught a flash of the car number. He was sure the first four figures were 3967. The fifth he did not remember. The car was dark blue and it looked like a taxi. This information Clay got the owner of the car to forward to the police.
He did not wait to give it personally, but joined Johnnie in the cab. The address he gave to the driver with the waterproof hat pulled down over his head was that of a certain place of amusement known as Heath's Palace of Wonders. A young woman he wanted to consult was wont to sit behind a window there at the receipt of customs.
"It's worth a fiver extra if you make good time," Lindsay told the driver.
"You're on, boss," answered the man gruffly.
Johnnie, in a fever of anxiety, had trotted along beside his chief to the drug-store in silence. Now, as they rushed across the city, he put a timid question with a touch of bluff bravado he did not feel.
"We'll get her back sure, don't you reckon?"
"We'll do our best. Don't you worry. That won't buy us anything."
"No—no, I ain't a-worryin' none, but—Clay, I'd hate a heap for any harm to come to that li'l' girl." His voice quavered.
"Sho! We're right on their heels, Johnnie. So are the cops. We'll make a gather and get Kitty back all right."