This left him room to crawl through. As he dropped to the floor, he saw somebody lying on the floor, bound hand and foot, and with a cloth fastened over his mouth, so that he could not utter a sound. Two or three slashes with his knife, and off came the ropes. At the same time he loosened the suffocating cloth. Then he lifted Chick to his feet. To his joy, he saw that his assistant was not hurt. He was standing up without aid, although obviously he felt very stiff. “Where are they, Chick? In the house?” “Yes. There are three of them. Sun Jin, the man with the scars, and another chink.” “And who is the third?” asked Nick Carter. “Professor Tolo, of course. I tell you, chief, that Jap is one of the worst citizens I ever saw out of jail. He’s going to get us all if we don’t watch out.” “Is he?” came grimly from the great detective. “I think not. The electric chair will get him.” “It ought to, I believe. But he’s smart enough not to do his own job. He never has anything to do with the actual use of the crossed needles, and he is smart enough to make it hard to bring anything definite against him.” While Chick was speaking, he was digging at the lock with his pocketknife, and it was not long before he shot back the lock and pulled the door open. Patsy Garvan met them as they went out, and, with his usual recklessness where his emotions were concerned, threw his arms around Chick’s shoulders, and shouted, in a powerful voice: “Good old scout! They didn’t get you! I saw them, and I would have come over the fence right then if the chief hadn’t phoned me to wait. Come on, everybody! This is where we get the Yellow Tong and hang it on the fence to dry, inside out! Wow! Bring on your chinks!” It was impossible to keep Patsy quiet, as both Nick Carter and Chick well knew. Now that his blood was up, he must be allowed to have his fling, regardless of who might hear him. “Don’t try the door,” warned Chick. “They have it locked and barred. But you can get through the kitchen window by just breaking the glass and reaching in to the catch.” “We’ll cut a hole. That will be better than making a crash by breaking it,” said Nick. He took from his portable kit of tools a glazier’s diamond, and cut a square hole in the glass as neatly as if it were his regular business. He pinched the piece of glass with his nimble fingers before it could fall to the floor inside, and had the catch pushed back almost in the same movement. The next moment he was in the kitchen, pistol in hand, while his two assistants also came through. So far they had not heard a sound in the house. Yet there could be no question that somebody was there, for only just before Patsy Garvan had seen the three men carrying Chick’s bound figure down the yard, to deposit it in the brick tool house.