pt from her feet and borne onward by some swift and
remorseless current, whether she would or no.

The Pug, in his curious whisper, was talking to her: "Pinkie knows de
way in. We don't want any row in dere, on account of Charlie. We ain't
fer puttin' his place on de rough, an' gettin' him raided by de bulls.
Charlie's all to de good. See? Well, dat's wot 'd likely happen if
me an' Pinkie busts in on Pete an' Marny widout sendin' in our
visitin'-cards first, polite-like. Dey would pull deir guns, an' though
we'd get de coin just de same, dere'd be hell to pay fer Charlie, an' de
whole place 'd go up in fireworks right off de bat. Well, dis is where
youse come in. Youse are de visitin'-card. Youse gets into deir bunk
room, pretendin' youse have made a mistake, an' youse leaves de door
open behind youse. Dey don't know youse, an', bein' a woman, dey won't
pull no gun on youse. An' den youse breaks it gently to dem dat dere's
a coupla gents outside, an' just about den dey looks up an' sees me an'
Pinkie an' our guns-an' I guess dat's all. Get it?"

"Sure!" mumbled Rhoda Gray.

The Pug talked on. She did not hear him. It seemed as though her brain
ached literally with an acute physical pain. What was she to do? What
could she do? She must do something! There must be some way to save
herself from being drawn into the very center of this vortex toward
which she was being swept closer with every second that passed. Those
two old faces, haggard in their despair and misery, rose before her
again. She felt her heart sink. She had counted, only a few moments
before, on getting their money back for them--through the police. The
police! How could she get any word to the police now, without first
getting away from these two men here? And suppose she did get away,
and found some means of communicating with the authorities, it would be
Pinkie Bonn here, and the Pug, who would fall into the meshes of the law
quite as much as would French Pete and Marny Day; and to have Pinkie and
the Pug apprehended now, just as they seemed to be opening the gateway
for her into the inner secrets of the gang, meant ruin to her own hopes
and plans. And to refuse to go on with them now, as one of them, would
certainly excite their suspicions--and suspicion of Gypsy Nan was the
end of everything for her.

Her hands, under her shawl, clenched until the nails bit into her palms.
Couldn't she do anything? And there was the money, too, for those two
old pe