“Gee! that does settle it,” he said to himself. “I must know who is there and what’s going to come off, but it won’t do for me to approach the house from this side. Those rats are in the rear rooms, or a side one, or they could not have reached the back door so quickly after Henley whistled. I’ll make a circuit to the front road and have a look.” It took Patsy several minutes to do so, seeking the shelter of a wall over which he could plainly see the front of the dwelling, and he then met with an agreeable surprise. A familiar whistle fell upon his ears, and he turned and discovered Chick under the same wall. “Gee whiz!” he exclaimed, when they met. “This is dead lucky, for fair.” “It’s not all luck, I guess,” Chick replied. “Give the chief the credit for it.” “You found your man?” “I arrived just in time to see him leaving his office.” “He must be out here, now, since you are here.” “That’s what,” Chick nodded. “He went round to the back door of the house about ten minutes ago. I’ve been waiting and watching till I could get a line on what’s going on in there.” “Gee! I can supply that line, all right,” chuckled Patsy. “Cut loose, then,” said Chick. Patsy informed him with very few words what had occurred, and the subterfuge Nick had employed. “It now is up to us, Chick,” he added. “The gang we want is in that house, and probably Arthur Gordon. We must go in and get them. There’s nothing else to it.” “Only one thing,” corrected Chick, who again was sizing up the house. “What’s that?” “The way to get in, Patsy, so as to catch them hands down. It’s a hundred to one that they are on the ground floor, also in one of the rear rooms, as you have said.” “It’s a safe gamble, Chick, in my opinion.” “And I am equally sure that we could not force any of the lower windows without being heard. We can take a chance and approach the front of the house, and by climbing that trellis at the east end of the veranda, we can reach the veranda roof and three of the second-floor windows.” “Like breaking sticks,” nodded Patsy approvingly. “It’s dollars to doughnuts that we then can quietly force one of the windows.” “I think so, too.” “Well, what do you say?” “I say do it, Patsy, and be quick about it,” Chick declared, when unable to discover a sign of any person in the front part of the house. “I’m with you,” Patsy muttered. “Head straight across the lawn to the east end of the veranda.” They vaulted the wall while he was speaking, then covered the distance at record speed. After waiting and listening for a few moments, they felt sure that they had not been seen. To climb the trellis and reach the veranda roof then was child’s play, and both then began an inspection of the curtained windows. Chick found one through which he could work his knife blade, thrusting up between the sashes, and in a very few moments he had succeeded in throwing the lock.