“Bully!” exclaimed Patsy, withdrawing and closing the window. “When Gillman gets here, I must be in that other room.” He went back to the door communicating with the other room. A few moments’ work with a knife blade sufficed to pick out the paper, and a skeleton key did the rest. After closing and locking the door from the other side, Patsy carefully replaced the paper in the keyhole and turned for a look at the room he was then in. It was almost as bare as the apartment he had just left. A huge roll-top desk was in evidence, and three common chairs--nothing more. The roll-top of the desk was pushed half up. Patsy pushed it all the way and looked into the pigeon-holes. They were empty. He opened the drawers. They were empty, too. “It looks as though this might be moving day,” thought the detective, thinking of the van he had seen out in front. “Gee, but that’s a regular granddaddy desk. They never got it in through the hall door, and I’ll bet on it.” While he stood there, taking in the situation, his quick ear caught the sound of footsteps on the stairs. The Westerners were coming back. The detective looked around for a place to conceal himself. Opposite the door by which he had entered there was another, leading into the room on the other side. But even if that door was unlocked, and he could get into that room, he would be no better off than he was a little while before. He flashed another inquiring look around. There was absolutely no place in which he could hide himself, unless---- He looked at the desk, and then measured himself with his eyes. The steps were coming along the hall, now, and it was too late for him to use the skeleton key and get out of the room, even if he had wanted to. Without pausing another instant, he crawled into the desk and pulled at the roll-top until he got it down. It was a tight squeeze, and when the roll-top descended the lock snapped. But Patsy did not care for that. The only thing that worried him was that one of the two men might notice that the roll-top was shut, and not half open. That was not a very long chance, however, and, anyway, Patsy had to take it. CHAPTER V. BETWEEN EARTH AND SKY. The door was unlocked, opened, and the men came in. From the footfalls alone, Patsy’s keen ear could tell that there were three men instead of two. “We were up here waiting for you, Gillman,” said a voice. “If I had come any sooner, I’d have missed that highball,” answered a second voice. “When you turn the key, Ramsay,” observed a third voice, “don’t neglect to hang that slouch of yours over the knob.” The wearer of the slouch hat was the man Patsy was shadowing, so he had learned the fellow’s true name. The key scraped in the lock. “There you are, Starlick,” answered Ramsay. “The key fills up the hole enough, I should think. Besides, we won’t keep Gillman over two minutes.” “Long enough to give me a retainer,” chuckled Gillman. “How much of a retainer do you want?”