Now come on in here. I got some friends want to look you over."
Danny glanced inquiringly at Speedy. It seemed to Danny that this was the strategic moment to make a get-away, and make it fast. But Speedy was evidently still curious. So he permitted himself to be almost pushed by his guide down the dark hallway and through another door into a lowceilinged room filled with toughs, smoke and guttural conversation. Danny followed.
The pool and card games that formed the chief evening diversion of the Callahanites were going at full blast. Speedy made out between ten and fifteen men in the small room, the toughest assortment of unshaven beards and hard faces he had ever seen gathered in one spot. He looked around in vain for Carter. And, indeed, it seemed almost inconceivable that the well dressed, educated star boarder could have any connection with this gathering of plug-uglies. Speedy wondered if Danny could have been mistaken in the identity of his late passenger.
He had no time to consider the matter further. For the entrance of Danny and himself seemed to have been a pre-arranged signal for action. The pool and card games stopped. The Callahanites were getting to their feet and edging over toward the two newcomers. Speedy, sensing danger, sidled nearer the door, now closed. The maneuver had the added advantage of putting a pool table between him and the nearest group of thugs. Danny hovered near his shoulder. The gangster who had
