“He’s an infernally good guesser, then, and it puts us in bad,” growled Busby. “Bad enough, I’ll admit; but there’s a way out.” “Not if he brings that Philadelphia physician to the house, Dave, and----” “Rot!” snapped Margate, interrupting. “Do you suppose for a moment, Busby, that I’m to be thwarted at this stage of the game?” “But how can you prevent it?” “I’ll prevent it, all right. Carter does not suspect my identity. Nor does Clayton, nor his wife, nor her father. I have fooled them all for three full months. Am I now to be balked, when all was ripe to have turned the final trick, if the prying eyes of that old jade had not lit upon the truth? No, no, Busby, not on your life. I’ll play the game to a finish. I’ll get away with a million of Clayton’s fortune. Nick Carter, nor the devil himself, shall not prevent me.” “But he will bring in that physician, Dave, as sure as fate,” Busby apprehensively insisted. “Little good that will do him.” “There’s another contingency, also. Even if the physician fails to detect traces of scopolamine, Carter then may begin to watch the woman, or the nurse, or----” “No, he’ll not, Busby.” “Why do you think so?” “Because, blast him, he’ll have no woman to watch,” Margate cried, with more vicious vehemence. “No woman to watch!” Busby stared at him. “What do you mean by that?” “I mean what I say,” Margate came back at him. “I’ll tell you how it can be done. That’s why I am here to-night. I’ll beat Carter at his own game. Never again shall he foil my designs. The stake is too big for me to cry quits at this stage of the game. I’ll fool him, Busby. I’ll knock his present game on the head. I’ll tell you how it can be done.” “Go ahead, you rascal, and tell me, also,” thought Patsy, ears alert. “I then will land you rats where you belong. Go ahead and----” But Patsy’s train of thought ended as abruptly as it had begun. It was cut short by a voice from behind him, that of a man who, with a companion, had quietly entered from the street a few moments before, so quietly that Patsy had not heard them. They had caught sight of his sturdy figure in black relief against the glow on the curtained window. “Come down here, stranger, and come down with your hands up!” he cried sharply. “If you reach for a gun, or show fight, we’ll croak you on the instant. Come down here, I say, and be quick about it.” CHAPTER VI. THE GANG AND THE GAME. Patsy Garvan heard, with a thrill of dismay, the threatening commands that suddenly broke the silence behind him. He heard, too, a vicious oath that came with a wolfish growl from David Margate, when he leaped from his chair and rushed toward the rear door of the house, immediately followed by Busby and the woman. “Gee whiz! I’m caught hands down,” was the thought that leaped up in Patsy’s mind, as he turned and gazed over his shoulder.