roke out when I
had sufficiently recovered from the shock of his information. "You
expect me to entertain this motley aggregation of assorted criminals
as Jerry Benham! Well, I won't, and that's flat."

"Now, Roger, don't be unreasonable," he said with a cajoling smile.
"They're a pretty decent lot, really. Sagorski--the big chap with the
fuzzy hair, he's not half bad when you know him; and Carty, the one
with the cauliflower ear, his fight comes off inside of a week. We're
helping him out, too, you see--good food, clean air--bully fellow--a
little too finely drawn just now and a bit irritable--"

"I see. A bit irritable--so am I--"

"And then," he went on, "the other big fellow is Tim O'Halloran, my
chopping block, has a nasty left--and is a demon for punishment. The
little fellow is Kid Spatola, an Italian, one of my handlers, the
bootblack champion. Oh, they're a fine lot, Roger--You'll get to like
'em. Nothing like being thrown with chaps a lot to know what they're
like--inside of 'em, I mean."

"Quite true," I remarked with desperate calmness. "And who, if I may
ask, is the colored gentleman in the yellow sweater?"

"Oh!" said Jerry pleasantly. "That's Danny Monroe, my rubber. He's the
best masseur outside of Sweden, knows all the tricks; wait until you
see him rubbing me down."

"I shall try to possess my soul in patience until then," I said. "Have
you designated which of the spare rooms these gentlemen are to
occupy?"

"Ah, don't be stodgy, Roger," he said. "They'll all be in the wing.
They won't bother you. I'm counting on you to help. Just try, won't
you? It will only be for about three weeks."

I gasped and sank into the nearest chair. Three weeks in which this
gang of hoodlums must be fed, looked after and entertained. I was
helpless. Radford, the superintendent, had gone for a lengthy visit to
relatives in California.

"I hope you have their criminal records--also a private detective to
watch the silver," I murmured weakly.

"No, I haven't," Jerry retorted. "I'm not afraid of any of them. It's
rather narrow, Roger, to think, just because a chap goes into pugilism
as a business, that he isn't straight. You've taught me that one man
is as good as another and now you're--you're crawling. That's what
you're doing--crawling."

I was indeed, crawling, groveling. I strove upward, but remained
prostrate.

"How could you do such a thing, Jerry?" I remonstrated feebly.

He patted me on the back--much