There was no turning Whitney Barnes away with a soft answer. His appeals for admission were rising to a strident pitch when his friend opened the door and yanked him in. "Have you seen him?" demanded Barnes, looking about wildly. "No," Gladwin returned. "I think he escaped." "Oh, I don't mean the robber Johnny," complained Barnes, shaking out his handcuffed wrists. "I mean the damned idiot who locked these things on me." "He's searching the house," said Gladwin, smiling at his friend's tragic earnestness. Detective Kearney came into the room alert as a race horse. "We've been through the house from cellar to roof," he spat out while his eyes searched every corner of the room. "I say--look here," said Barnes, "can you unlock me?" "No!" Kearney would not even look at him. "Confound it, somebody ought to unlock me!" exclaimed the frantic Barnes. "This is the most annoying position I was ever in in my life. My valet even couldn't undress me with these things on." "What's out that way?" asked Kearney, pointing to the panel door that opened upon the backstairs hallway. "Kitchen," said Gladwin, going to the door and opening it. "Oh, yes," said Kearney, "the captain's back there?" "But look here, detective," cried Barnes again, "who was that inordinate ass who locked me up?" "Ryan!" said Kearney, freezing a smile as it formed on his lips. "Where is he?" "On the roof." "What the deuce is he doing on the roof?" "Searching it." "Well," stormed Barnes, "I'll go up there and if he don't unlock me I'll push him off." He dashed out of the room and up the stairs. "Funny thing where that man got to, Mr. Gladwin," mused the Central Office man, with a keen glance from under his heavy eyebrows. "Yes, those chaps are clever, aren't they?" returned the young man with affected unconcern. "I suppose he's miles away by this time." "I don't think he's gone very far," rejoined Kearney, his voice bristling with suspicion. "He couldn't have got away without the men outside seeing him. We've got the block surrounded now. He's here in this house, Mr. Gladwin--I guess you know that." "I don't know anything of the kind," Gladwin denied, with a trifle too much emphasis. A policeman appeared in the doorway and Kearney called to him, "Ryan, I thought you were on the roof." "Sergeant Burke sent me down," responded Ryan. "We've got the roofs covered both way." "Did you see the man you put the bracelets on?" asked Kearney. "No," replied Ryan, "but I heard a lot of noise going up one of the back stairways." "You better go and find him," urged Travers Gladwin. "He's in an awful state." "No," countermanded Kearney, "never mind him now." "But you're wasting time here," persisted Gladwin. "I can look after this room." "_Oh, no, you can't!_" Kearney flashed back. "Why not?"