People came running up, and as the first reached the spot they saw Hanlon struggling to hold back the snarling, blood-flecked dog, while Rellos lay dead in a pool of blood.
The dog's owner rushed up and snapped a leash on the dog.
"I'm terribly sorry, sir," Hanlon said. "My companion was drunk and kicked her puppy. She merely avenged it."
"I wondered," the man was shaken. "Kaiserina never was vicious before."
"I don't think she will be again," Hanlon said soothingly. "Is the puppy all right?" he asked the small boy who came up with the little animal cradled in his arms.
"What's going on here?" an authoritative voice said, and two policemen pushed their way through the quickly-gathered crowd.
The dog's owner explained in swift words, and completely exonerated Hanlon. "This man tried to stop my dog; he was holding her back when I got here," and others corroborated his statement.
"You'd better have the dog killed," the policeman said, but Hanlon intervened.
"No, she was just striking back at the man who killed her puppy. She wasn't to blame, and I'm sure she isn't vicious."
The police were finally satisfied, and while they were calling the dead-wagon Hanlon walked slowly back to his hotel, his heart still sick but consoled a bit.
"He had it coming to him," his thought was bitter. "The rotten beast--kicking a little puppy like that!"
The next evening Hanlon went back to the Bacchus. Instead of stopping at the bar he went directly to the back room and knocked on the door.
When the peephole opened he asked, "The Boss in?"
A quarter hour later the man summoned him, and upon entering that now-familiar room Hanlon saw a closet door was standing open, disclosing a visiphone screen, on which the leader's face was visible.
"Ah!" There was a quick intake of breath, and a feral gleam in those greenish eyes. A moment's silence, then "Do you still want that overseer's job?"
"For a thousand a month and keep? Definitely!"
"Very well, we'll try you. Zeller will give you a list of things you'll need there--special clothing and such. Uh ... got any money to buy those you don't have?"
"I will have when you pay me Rellos' expense money for last night."
The leader's eyes narrowed in sudden anger. "Don't try my patience too far, Hanlon."