A phrase, apparently quite irrelevant to the situation, shot into
Kitty's head. Moribund perspectives. Instantly she knew, with that
foretasting mind of hers, that the man peering over the policeman's
shoulder and Johnny Two-Hawks had met somewhere that day. She was now
able to compare the results, and she placed the victory on Two-Hawks'
brow. Yonder individual somehow justified the instinct that had prompted
her to play the good Samaritan. Whence had this gorilla come? He was
not one of the men who had issued in such dramatic haste from the Gregor
apartment.
"This man here saw you and another carrying someone across the fire
escape. What's the rumpus?" The policeman was not exactly belligerent,
but he was dutifully determined. And though he was ready to grant that
this girl with the Irish eyes was beautiful, a man never could tell.
"There's been a tragedy of some kind," began Kitty. "This man certainly
did see us carrying a man across the fire escape. He had been set upon
and robbed in the apartment across the way."
"Why didn't you call in the police?"
"Because he might have died before you got here."
"Where's the man who helped you?"
"Gone. He was an outsider. He was afraid of getting mixed up in a police
affair and ran away." Behind the kitchen door Cutty smiled. She would
do, this girl.
"Sounds all right," said the policeman. "I'll take a look at the man."
"This way, if you please," said Kitty, readily. "You come, too,
sir," she added as the squat man hesitated. Kitty wanted to watch his
expression when he saw Johnny Two-Hawks.
Seed on rocky soil; nothing came of the little artifice. No Buddha's
graven face was less indicative than the squat man's. Perhaps his face
was too sore to permit mobility of expression. The drollery of this
thought caused a quirk in one corner of Kitty's mouth. The squat man
stopped at the foot of the bed with the air of a mere passer-by and
seemed more interested in the investigations of the policeman than in
the man on the bed. But Kitty knew.
"A fine bang on the coco," was the policeman's observation. "Take
anything out of his pockets?"
"They were quite empty. I've sent for a military surgeon. He may arrive
at any moment."
"This fellow live across the way?"
"That's the odd part of it. No, he doesn't."
"Then what was he doing there?"