“We don’t need help,” snapped Patsy Garvan. “There’s only three of them, and if we have this Marcos to help us, there’ll be three on our side. Why, I am almost ashamed to do it. It’s too easy! Are we to shoot?” “If we can’t nail them any other way. Have you got handcuffs in your pocket, Patsy?” “Two pairs! I figured we’d need them, even if you have a pair----” “Which I have,” interjected Nick. “I’ll row. Get into the bow, with your gun in your hand. As soon as you get where you can make a grab at their boat, cover the nearest man, and I’ll do the same with the next. Then make a jump.” “I don’t get you,” admitted Patsy. “Aren’t we liable to tumble into the water?” “Not if you do your work right. Their boat is tied up to the stone sill of the door. All we have to do is to row up level with it, and I’ll get hold of their gunwale. That will hold us steady, and you can throw your gun on your man.” “But you’ll be sitting down, and----” “I can use a gun sitting down, as well as standing up,” remarked Nick calmly. “They are bringing some stuff out of the warehouse,” whispered Patsy. “Looks like sacks of coal or something.” “Silver, probably,” interrupted Nick. “Look out! They are all in the boat except Dugan. You see that man they have sitting in the stern?” “Yes. Who is he?” “Marcos.” “Gee! The king-pin himself! All right! We’ll get him so slick, those Jimmy toughs will think they are dancing the tango upside down on a toboggan slide. Just watch me get the drop on that hard-faced guy in the middle.” “That’s Foxey Irwin,” remarked Nick. “Don’t I know it?” was Patsy’s quick rejoinder. “I’m only afraid my bullet may bounce off his face and fly into bits all over this part of the meadows.” Nothing more was said now. Larry Dugan had been piling up sacks of loot in the boat, and Nick Carter doubted not that his pockets were full of jewelry and small articles of value generally. In the doorway stood Solado and Miguel, and Nick noticed that a small boat, of the same general type as his own and the gangster’s, was moored at the other side of the door. “That boat wasn’t there before,” observed Patsy, in a whisper. “They had it inside,” returned Nick. “Didn’t want to call attention to their presence.” “They’re a smooth bunch! Shall we make the rush now?” “Yes. Be sure to cover your man. That will be Foxey. I’ll get Dugan.” “Pet Carlin is the most dangerous!” Patsy reminded him. “I depend on Marcos getting him,” was all Nick said to this. Like a flash, they shot their boat suddenly out of the tangle of reeds, and so skillfully did Nick Carter guide the craft, that it ran alongside the other as evenly as if there had been the utmost deliberation.