squarely the gaze of the Chief of Detectives.

"Do you realize, young man," Barlow continued in the same measured,
significant tone, "that whether you go straight, and how you go
straight, depends pretty much on me?"

"Mind making that a little clearer, Chief?"

"I'll show you part of my hand--just remember that I'm holding back my
high cards. I don't believe you're going to go straight, so we'll start
with the proposition that you're not going to run straight and work on
from there. You're clever, Brainard--I hand you that; and all the classy
crooks trust you. That's why I had picked you out for what I wanted long
before you left stir. Brainard, you're wise enough to know that some
of our best pinches come from tips handed us from the inside.
Brainard"--the slow voice had now become incisive, mandatory--"you're
not going to go straight. You're going to string along with Barney and
Old Jimmie and the rest of the bunch--we'll protect you--and you're
going to slip us tips when something big is about to be pulled off."

Larry, experienced with police methods though he was, could hardly
believe this thing which was being proposed to him, Larry Brainard. But
he controlled himself.

"If I get you, Chief, you are suggesting that I become a police stool?"

"Exactly. We'll never tip your hand. And any little thing you pull off
on your own we'll not bother you about. And, besides, we'll slip you a
little dough regular on the quiet."

"And all you want me to do in exchange," Larry asked quietly, "is to
hand up my pals?"

"That's all."

Larry found it required his all of strength to control himself; but he
did.

"There are only three small objections to your proposition, Chief."

"Yes?"

"The first is, I shall not be a stool."

"What's that?"

"And the second is, I wouldn't squeal on a pal to you even if I were a
crook. And the third is what I said in the beginning: I'm not going to
be a crook."

Barlow's squat, powerful figure arose menacingly. Casey also stood up.

"I tell you you ARE going to be a crook!" Barlow's big fist crashed down
on his desk in a tremendous exclamation point. "And you're going to work
for me exactly as I tell you!"

"I have already given you my final word," said Larry.

"You--you--" Barlow almost choked at this quiet defiance. His face
turned red, his breath came in a fluttering snarl, his powerful
shoulders hunched up as if he were about to strike. But he held back his
physical bl