The whole operation had a grimy look about it—a flat-roofed old house which seemed to Roger hardly worth the trouble. But the Mexican had paid half the money in advance. The flimsy aluminum ladder wouldn't reach to the parapet. They had to climb to the roof of a first-floor porch, pull the ladder up and place it again for the climb to the top. Steadying it on the metal porch roof, Jim Hoxey turned his bright blue eyes through one of the ladder squares into Roger's brown ones.

"So you thought your first two days were tough, eh?"

"I didn't say that," Roger said.