"It's no game--it's a joke," replied Gladwin.
Whitney Barnes, who had been listening eagerly and had sensed Gladwin's inspiration, chimed in:
"Yez are offering me five hundred dollars for a joke?" said the flabbergasted Phelan.
"That's it," returned Gladwin. "I want to take your place; I want to become"--stepping forward to read the number on Phelan's shield--"Officer 666 for a little while."
Phelan couldn't believe his ears. Stepping to one side he said behind his hand to Barnes:
"This feller's off his dip. Don't he know that if I lent him me uniform it'd be me finish."
"That's all right," spoke up Gladwin. "I'll guarantee to protect you. No one will ever know about it. You'll never make five hundred so easy again."
"S-s-say," stammered Phelan, "what's this all about?"
"Well, I've found out that a thief is going to break in here to-night."
"A thief going to break in here for a joke!" yelled Phelan. "Now I know you're batty."
"Not a regular thief," the young man corrected hastily. "He's a friend of mine--and I want to be waiting in your uniform when he comes. I want to nab him. The joke will be on him, then, you know."
"All very simple, you see," added Barnes.
"Simple as--no, I don't see," snarled Phelan. "The two of yez is bugs."
"But you will see," went on Gladwin, "if you'll let me explain. In order to be a policeman I've got to have a uniform, haven't I?"
"And yez are offering me five hundred dollars for a joke?"
Phelan dropped his arms limply at his side and permitted his eyes to bulge _ad lib_.
"That's it," cried Gladwin. "I assure you it is nothing serious or criminal. I just want your uniform long enough to catch my friend and I'll give you five hundred dollars for lending it to me."
"It's too big a risk," panted Phelan, producing an elaborate bandana and mopping his brow. "I won't do it."
It was manifest that Officer 666 was sorely tempted. To goad him further Travers Gladwin produced a little roll of yellow-backed bills from his pocket. Fluttering the bills deftly he stripped off one engraved with an "M" in one corner and "500" in the other. He turned it about several ways so that Phelan could study it from all angles. Then he fluttered it before Whitney Barnes and said: