If he could find the Wowzer, reach the man BEFORE THE LETTER WAS OPENED--Jimmie Dale's lips grew tighter.

THAT was the chance! It he failed in that--Jimmie Dale's lips drooped downward in grim curves at the corners.

A chance! Already the Wowzer had at least a half hour's lead, and, worse still, there was no telling which one of a dozen places the man might have chosen to retreat to with his loot.
Time passed.

His mind obsessed, Jimmie Dale's physical acts were almost wholly mechanical.

It was perhaps fifteen minutes since he had discovered the loss of the letter, and he was walking now through the heart of the Bowery.