“Yuh’ve been at it again!” he cried, his Irish eyes lighting up with anticipatory enjoyment.

“I had a little set-to with friend Jerry last night,” the Westerner explained.

“Another?”

“Now don’t you blame me.  I’m a peaceful citizen—­not lookin’ for trouble a li’l’ bit.  But I don’t aim to let this Durand comb my hair with a rake.”

“What’s the trouble now?”

“You heard about the girl abducted in an auto from the Bronx?”

“Uh-huh!  Was Jerry in that?”

“He was.  I’ll tell you the whole story, Tim.”

“Meet my mother first.  Mother—­Mr. Lindsay.  Yuh’ve heard me talk av him.”

Mrs. Muldoon’s blue Irish eyes twinkled.  She was a plump and ample woman, and her handshake was firm and strong.

“I have that.  Tim thinks yuh a wonder, Mr. Lindsay.”

“Oh, he’s prejudiced.  You see he doesn’t like the Big Mogul Jerry.”

“Well, he’s sure a booster for yuh.”

Clay told the story of his encounter with Durand on the train and of his subsequent meetings with him at the Sea Siren and on the night of the poker party.  He made elisions and emendations that removed the bedroom scene from the tale.

“So that’s when yuh met Annie Millikan,” Tim said.  “I was wonderin’ how yuh knew her.”

“That’s when I met her.  She’s one fine girl, Tim, a sure-enough thoroughbred.  She has fought against heavy odds all her life to keep good and honest.  And she’s done it.”

“She has that,” agreed Mrs. Muldoon heartily.  “Annie is a good girrl.  I always liked her.”

“I’d bet my last chip on Annie.  So last night I went straight to her.  She wouldn’t throw down ‘Slim’ Jim, but she gave me an address.  I went there and met Durand.”

“With his gang?” asked Tim.

“No; I waited till they had gone.  I locked myself in a room alone with him.  He took eight shots at me in the dark and then we mixed.”

“Mother o’ Moses!” exclaimed the policeman.  “In the dark?”

“No.  I had switched the lights on.”

“You bate him!  I can see it in your eye!” cried Muldoon, pounding the table so that the dishes jumped.

“You’ll have to ask him about that.”  Clay passed to more important facts.  “When I reached home Kitty was there.  They had dropped her in the Park to make a safe getaway.”

“That’s good.”

“But Tim—­when Annie Millikan gave me the address where Jerry Durand was, the driver of my taxi saw her.  The man was ‘Slim’ Jim.”

Muldoon sat up, a serious look on his face.  “Man, yuh spilt the beans that time.  How’d you ever come to do it?  They’ll take it out on Annie, the dogs.”  The eyes of the policeman blazed.

“Unless we stand by her.”

“Sure, and we’ll do that.  But how?”

“First we’ve got to get her away from there to some decent place where she’ll be safe.”