"And it listens good to me, all right," said Sadie, in approving whispers. "I’ll meet you on even ground. My name is Sadie Badger, and I’m out for the coin as you see me, or in any old way I can get it." "That’s the right sort, Sadie, and you’re in my class. But you’re not cracking this crib alone, are you?" questioned Nick. "That’s what, Bosey." "Where are your pals?" "I’m leary of pals just now," said Sadie. "I was in with a good bunch and in right, but an infernal dick got them a month back and sent them up the river." "Tough luck," said Nick. "I ducked the same dose by the skin of my teeth," added Sadie. "I have got no pals I would bank on now, unless----” "Unless what?" "I say, Bosey!" The woman’s low whispers took on a more sibilant eagerness. "Since you’re here after plunder, and fate has chucked us together, let’s run in double harness on this job. What d’ye say? Are you game? Will you be my partner in crime?" Nick Carter did not hesitate for the hundredth part of a second. He saw more to be gained than by arresting Sadie Badger then and there. He grasped her extended hand, replying quickly: "Will a duck swim? I’d be a fool, Sadie, if I wouldn’t take a chance with you. Partners in crime--that’s what?" CHAPTER III. THE HOUSE OF FEAR. "But what’s your game? What’s the big idea, Nick? What more do you expect to gain than you would have derived from arresting Sadie Badger and sending her up for a prison sentence?" Nick Carter was at breakfast with his two chief assistants, Chick Carter and Patsy Garvan, on the morning following his encounter with Gaston Goulard and the whilom queen of the notorious Badger gang. He had related his experiences of the previous night, and informed them of his extraordinary compact with Sadie Badger. "Much!" he tersely replied. "My bargain with her, Chick, was entirely warrantable. In dealing with crooks, one must fight them with their own weapons, craft, deception, and treachery, when necessary." "I admit that, Nick, of course." "What good to have arrested her alone, if more can be accomplished?" Nick added. "It would have amounted to comparatively little. I would merely have put one dangerous female crook out of the running. I felt my way carefully, mind you, and I very soon found that she could not steal much from the Buckley residence." "That of Gideon Buckley, the banker, you say?" "Yes. She had entered through a rear basement window. She is expert in that game. She had learned from one of his clerks, whom she has artfully insnared with her wiles, that the banker took home a quantity of bonds and securities yesterday afternoon, and that he has no safe in his residence. She reasoned that he would put them in his library desk for the night, and she went there to get them." "But failed to find them?"