The night before, after seeing Natalie home, I had gone to a dinner and theater party, and had not reached my own flat until the small hours. Nevertheless, I found Larry waiting up for me, with the news that Moore wanted to speak to me the moment I came in. I don’t know how much Larry guessed of our relations and plans, but he seemed content to obey orders and ask no questions. And he and Moore were on the best of terms by now. Moore answered at once when I rang him. “Listen, old fellow,” he said. “There’s some really big news for you. I have had another talk with Vining. I took him out to dinner last night and gave him a really good time, and I think he has thawed out at last. At any rate, he admitted that he could take me to a wonderful party if he wanted to. “I had told him,” Moore went on, “that my one object in life was a new and unique sensation, and of course when he admitted that he could give me one, I deviled the life out of him to do it. Well, Clayton, he finally consented!” “Great stuff,” I told him. “I wanted to go to it to-morrow night. But he couldn’t manage that. He’s going out of town to-morrow. However, he promised to take me the night after. That’s Friday night. But I am to be blindfolded, to travel in a closed car and to pay $200 for the privilege. Pretty steep, eh?” “It ought to be _some_ party,” I remarked. “You’d think so,” Moore continued. “Now I’ve been thinking the thing over and I can’t believe that a gang like that will give me the slightest chance to learn where I am going or how I got there. They couldn’t afford to. And they’re probably too clever to fool. “That leaves two other courses open to us. We can try to find out beforehand approximately where they are going, and you can pick me up on the way and follow on. Or you can attempt to follow me from the start. But if they are the clever rogues I think they are, the latter will not be easy.” “Nor the former, for that matter,” I remarked. “Perhaps not,” Moore replied. “But now that we know definitely that Vining is mixed up with _some_ gang, even if it isn’t the one we are looking for, I think we can take more definite steps to find out more about him. And he’s to be away to-morrow afternoon.” “Search his rooms,” I said. “Exactly,” said Moore. “What do you say?” “Do you think he’s at all suspicious of you, Moore?” There was silence for a moment. Then Moore’s voice came more slowly over the wire. “Damn it, Clayton, I can’t be sure. Of course he seems perfectly friendly now. But he did change a bit suddenly. However, that’s probably only my imagination.” Moore hesitated. “He certainly wouldn’t loosen up at all at first.” “Well then, listen. I don’t believe that it’s worth while your taking a chance of running foul of him. Did he tell you of his own free will that he was going out of town to-morrow?” “Yes, made quite a point of it. But, of course, I was disappointed at not going to the party sooner.”