"See here, the alley leads
farther back. Bring your light."
"Aisy, now," said the policeman. "I'll lead the way. Maybe you want one
yourself, as your friend has set the fashion."
A few paces farther the alley turned at a right angle to the north,
yawning dark behind the grim and threatening buildings, and filled with
noisome odors. We looked narrowly for a body, and then for traces that
might give hint of the passage of a party.
"Nothing here," said the policeman, as we came out on the other street.
"Maybe they've carried him into one of these back-door dens, and maybe
they whisked him into a hack here, and are a mile or two away by now."
"But we must follow them. He may be only wounded and can be rescued.
And these men can be caught." I was almost hysterical in my eagerness.
"Aisy, aisy, now," said the policeman. "Go back to your room, now.
That's the safest place for you, and you can't do nothin' at all out
here. I'll report the case to the head office, an' we'll send out the
alarm to the force. Now, here's your door. Just rest aisy, and they'll
let you know if anything's found."
And he passed on, leaving me dazed with dread and despair in the
entrance of the fateful house.
The sounds of drunken pleasure were lessening about me. The custom had
fallen off in the saloon across the street to such extent that the
proprietor was putting up the shutters. The saloon on the corner of the
alley was still waiting for stray customers and I crossed over to it
with the thought that the inmates might give me a possible clue.
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