Nick Carter and his assistants had showed them much sooner than they had anticipated. The story told by Padillo, whose relief and gratitude were utterly beyond expression, confirmed all of Nick’s deductions from the evidence he had gathered. It appeared that Goulard and Taggart, contemplating a burglary in the Mantell mansion, had come there to look over the ground on the very night Frank read the Vandyke letter to his wife and parents. The crooks overheard him, as Nick had suspected, and at once framed up the job to get Padillo and his war prize. Not sure that they remembered the letter perfectly, Goulard had stolen into the house one day, picking the lock of the desk and making a copy of the letter during the night, and successfully stealing out of the house the following morning. While discussing their scheme with Sloan in a barroom a few days later, they were overheard by Ben Badger, who was in an adjoining booth. He at once framed up a job with his gang, or the men included in it, to get into the Manhattanville house before Goulard arrived from the vessel with his victim, and to get away with him and his suit case. They broke into the house through the basement immediately after dark that evening, and before Taggart and Slugger Sloan arrived, who had come to aid Goulard in disposing of the Mexican. When they undertook this and Padillo realized his situation, he at once stabbed Taggart and started in to finish the others and escape from the house. He would have failed but for the interference of the Badger gang, whom Padillo took to be friends because of their aid, and the fight ended precisely as Nick had deduced, Padillo going willingly with the Badger gang, only to later find himself helplessly in their clutches. He stated that Goulard was the man who had shot Batty Lang, which confirmed an earlier prediction of the famous detective--that Goulard would sooner or later kill some one. Nick referred to this prediction when discussing the case with his two assistants that evening, then added: “Well, we got in our quick work, all right, and saved Padillo and his baubles. He will never be held for killing Taggart. Whether Mantell and his partners in the jewel scheme will be able to hold the prize, or have a moral right to do so, is not for us to consider. It’s enough for us that we shall be well paid for our work. As for Gaston Goulard--well, we shall see no more of him till the East River gives up its dead.” “That will be never, chief,” declared Patsy. “Never in this world.” THE END. In the next issue, No. 150, of the NICK CARTER WEEKLY, you will find a mighty interesting account of one of the famous detective’s most baffling cases, namely, “The House of Fear; or, Nick Carter’s Counterstroke.” You will also find several short articles, together with an installment of the serial now running. Sheridan of the U. S. Mail. By RALPH BOSTON.