"So he kinda switched the deck with you guys for a change, hah?" Timmy commented after Fallon finished. "That proves what I say about him bein' a pretty foxy guy, turnin' a trick that maybe ain't gonna be so healthy for us in the end." "How come?" Skippy asked softly. "It's a long story, an' if you guys ain't sleepy..." Timmy began. "Say, lissen," Nickie interposed, "the kid'n me don't mind bein' put hip. I didn't like the way Barker bore down on you downstairs an' it give me the hunch mebbe he's too phoney even for us--see! So come across an' mebbe we won't get the short enda the stick." "Sure I'll spiel, but that's all the good it'll do," Timmy said dismally. "We'll never get nowheres together, take it from me--Barker ain't lettin' us! He'll take us away from here, one by one, and so far the two guys that have gone from here ... anyways, I'll tell you what I think--Barker's a _killer_!" "_What?_" Skippy gulped. They heard the scraping of a lock and suddenly the door swung open. A breeze from the hall blew out the feeble lantern light and they were in total darkness. CHAPTER X THE WAY OF DEVLIN Skippy felt Nickie's hand on his arm and Timmy crowded up close to both of them. For a second there was no sound, then they heard someone move in the doorway and presently Barker's voice pierced the darkness. "What have you been whispering about in here, Timmy?" he demanded. "_Whisperin'?_" Timmy's voice trembled ever so little. "Aw, I was only tellin' these guys how you got me outa the pen an' they was tellin' me how slick you helped them--that's all." Skippy was certain that Barker sighed. In any event, he said, "Hmph! You better let them go to sleep and do your talking tomorrow!" He shut the door as swiftly as he had opened it--the key turned in the lock and all was silence. Nickie was alert, tense. He nudged Skippy and Timmy and then he moved his lips. "Us three can cram into bed," he said so softly that the boys had to strain their ears to hear. "We'll pull a blanket over our heads so's we can talk--see? It'll be hot, but we should worry, hah?" Skippy was worried, but he didn't say so for he, too, was anxious to learn from Timmy what lay behind Barker's grave, almost brooding exterior. He undressed and hopped in on one side of Timmy while Nickie crawled in on the other and if they felt stifled as they whispered under the blanket for three-quarters of an hour or more, they were not aware of it, so intensely interesting was the story to which they were listening.