“None can hear us in this place,” said Cora, less petulantly. “I’ll tell you what he said, Guy. He called me down in good shape, along with all the rest of us, over my shoulder. He’s up in the air a mile.” “He’ll come down,” said Deland, with sinister coldness. “Don’t be so sure of it.” “I’ll find a way to bring him down, then.” “He’s nursing an awful kick.” “He’ll kick against a brick wall, Cora, in that case,” Deland said, with an icy assurance that Patsy readily remembered. “I’ll puncture his tires so quickly that he’ll turn turtle.” “Well, mebbe so,” allowed the woman doubtfully. “What more did he say?” Deland continued. “Did you get any part of the coin?” “Not a copper of it,” said Cora curtly. “Why was that?” “He says that he won’t settle.” “Won’t settle!” Patsy heard Deland’s teeth meet with a sudden fierce snap. “That’s what he said, Guy, and he as good as fired me out of the crib,” replied Cora inelegantly. “You’ll have to see him yourself if you----” “See him--you bet I’ll see him,” Deland broke forth in tones that would have chilled an ordinary hearer. “I’ll see him, all right, and I’ll lose no time about it.” “What need of rushing things?” “Need enough.” “Why? Won’t it keep?” “No, hang it, nothing keeps when that infernal sleuth takes up a case,” Deland snarled viciously. “You don’t yet know what has happened.” “Sleuth--what sleuth?” Cora’s arm vanished like a flash from Patsy’s cautious gaze, when she swung round in her chair. “You don’t mean----” “You ought to guess what I mean, Cora, and whom.” “Not--not Nick Carter?” “Yes. May the devil get him--and I’ll help him do so.” “What has occurred?” Cora demanded, voice quaking. “Carter began an investigation this morning,” Deland now informed her. “I was there in disguise to learn who was put on the case and what was suspected. Phelan, the headquarters man, was the first to show up, and he played dead easy into our hands.” “He got after Gordon?” “He sent a gun to get him, and I now know that Gordon was arrested and taken down to headquarters, along with the evidence against him.” “Why are you so stewed, then? That ought to be good enough.” “So it would be--if it had lasted!” snapped Deland. “Lasted--what do you mean?” “I mean that Carter showed up at the house a little later and had a look at things,” Deland explained. “He didn’t know me from a side of leather, but he refused to let me in or to put me wise to what he suspected. He flew down to headquarters, instead, and Gordon was liberated.” “Is that so?” “When Carter returned he told the reporters that there had been no arrest, and that the whole business in so far as Gordon was concerned was a mistake.” “That looks mighty bad,” said Cora, after a moment. “How do you size it up?” “Hang the cursed dick, Cora, there’s only one way to size it up,” Deland again replied, with a snarl. “Carter got wise to something, enough to warrant his taking the chance of liberating Gordon.” “That’s evident enough.”