Jimmie Dale slipped through the window to the fire escape, and, working
cautiously, silently, but with the speed of a trained athlete, made his
way down. At the bottom he dropped from the iron platform into the back
yard, ran for the fence and climbed over into a lane on the other side.
And then, as he ran, Jimmie Dale snatched the mask from his face and
put it in his pocket. He was safe now. He swept the sweat drops from his
forehead with the back of his hand--noticing them for the first time.
It had been close--almost as close for him as it had been for old Luddy.
And to-morrow the papers would execrate the Gray Seal! He smiled a
little wanly. His breath was still coming hard. Presently they would
scour the lane--when they found that their quarry was not in the house.
What a racket they were making! The whole district seemed roused like a
swarm of angry bees.
He kept on along the lane--and dodged suddenly into a cross street where
the two intersected. The clang of a bell dinned discordantly in
his ears--a patrol wagon swept by him, racing for the scene of the
disturbance--the riot call was out!
Again Jimmie Dale smiled wearily, passing his hand across his eyes.
"I guess," said Jimmie Dale, "I'm pretty near all in. And I guess it's
time that Larry the Bat went--home."
And a little later a figure turned from the Bowery and shambled down
the cross street, a disreputable figure, with hands plunged deep in his
pockets--and a shadow across the roadway suddenly shifted its position
as the shambling figure slouched into the black alleyway and entered the
tenement's side door.
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