“We’ll get that to-night. If we left it until morning, there wouldn’t be any wool there. We’ll have to act quick before they get wise to Larsen’s arrest. I got him out of there so quietly that I don’t think any of his pals know about his arrest yet. But he’ll get word to them quick enough. I told the warden to hold up any messages for two or three hours. That will give us time to grab the wool. Then Larsen can send out all the alarms he wants to.” “May I go with you when you get the wool?” “Oh! I’m not going myself,” said Sheridan. “I’ve already telephoned the office to hustle a truck down there, and McCarthy will go along with it. If I went down on that pier when the barge is raided, every bargeman on the waterfront would have me spotted. I’m supposed to keep on with this job until we get all the wool, and I don’t want those pirates to get wise to me.” “Won’t I have any more chances to help you?” asked Willie, and his voice was so sorrowful that Sheridan laughed outright. “The only way you can help me now,” he said, “is to join me in a bite to eat. I didn’t have time to get supper, and I’m hungry as a spring bear.” “Haven’t you had anything to eat since noon? You must be nearly starved.” “I had a sandwich and a cup of coffee just before I came for you, but that doesn’t stay by a fellow very long. Come on. We’ll go back to South Street and get a bite. It’s only a step and there are some sailors’ hangouts you might like to see. We’ll just keep our eyes and ears open and we might pick up something interesting. In this business you never can tell when you’ll stumble on something.” Back to South Street they went, and along that forbidding thoroughfare. Gone were the bustle and activity of the daytime, that lent so much charm to the scene. Only the dirt and squalor remained. No longer could one see inland the towering shafts of granite and marble, that thrust their heads into the very clouds. Invisible now was the swelling river, with its stirring life and stately vessels. Only the grimy fronts of ancient, battered houses, the foul gutters, and the rough pier sheds were visible. But dimly could one discern the vessels in the docks. And the water-front, that sunlight made so fascinating, with its extended panorama of ships and shipping, now appeared dull, dark, and forbidding. Down the dingy street they went, their footsteps echoing in the deserted thoroughfare; though here and there little knots of longshoremen were congregated about the piers. Occasional saloons, but poorly disguised as coffee-houses, sent shafts of yellow light and the noise of revelry out into the night. And into one of these Sheridan presently led his young companion.