And if he decided to go on with it, should he go to Hanada and ask for a
showdown, all cards on the table; or should he trust him to reveal the
facts in the case little by little or all at once, as seemed wise to
him? Well, he should see.

Then, for a half hour, Johnny gave himself over to the wild, boyish
reveries which the city air and the lights flickering on the water
awakened. At the end of that half hour he put on his hat and went out.
He was to meet Hanada on the Wells street bridge. Where the Japanese was
staying he did not know, but that it was with some fellow countrymen he
did not doubt. Cio-Cio-San was staying with friends, students at the
University. It had been arranged that the three of them should meet at
odd times and various places to discuss matters relating to their
dangerous mission. In this way they hoped to throw members of the band
of Radicals off their tracks.

Their conversation that night came to little. Hanada had found no trace
of the Russian, nor had he come into contact with any other important
Radicals since reaching Chicago. Johnny's report was quite as brief.
Hanada showed no inclination to reveal more regarding the matter, and
Johnny did not question him. He had fully determined to see the thing
through, cost what it might.

It was after a roundabout walk through the deserted streets of the
business section of the city that they came to South Water street. This
street, the noisiest and most crowded of all Chicago at certain hours,
was now as silent and deserted as a village green at midnight. Here a
late pedestrian hurried down its narrow walk: there some boatman
loitered toward his craft in the river. But for these the street was
deserted.