Far away a young girl and her companion got on the train which was to carry her to New York, the great dream city she was always longing to see. And the spider wove his web. Hargreave reached home at night. He put the money in the safe and was telephoning when Jones entered and handed his master an unstamped note. "Where did you get this?" "At the door, sir. I judge that the house is surrounded." Hargreave read the note. It stated briefly that all his movements during the day had been noted. It was known that he had collected a million in paper money. If he surrendered this he would be allowed twenty-four hours before the real chase began. Otherwise he should die before midnight. Hargreave crushed the note in his hand. They might kill him; there was a chance of their accomplishing that; but never should they touch his daughter's fortune. "Jones, you go to the rear door and I'll take a look out of the front. We have an hour. I know the breed. They'll wait till midnight and then force their way in." Hargreave saw a dozen shadows in the front yard. "Men all about the back yard," whispered Jones down the hall. The master eyed the man. "Very well, sir," replied the latter, with understanding. "I am ready." The master went to the safe, emptied it of its contents, crossed the hall to the bedroom, and closed the door softly behind him, Jones having entered the same room through another door to befool any possible watcher. After a long while, perhaps an hour, the two men emerged from the room from the same doors they had entered. So whispered the watcher to his friends below. "Hargreave is going up-stairs." "Let him go. Let him take a look at us from the upper windows. He will understand that nothing but wings will save him." Silence. By and by a watcher reported that he heard the scuttle of the roof rattle. "Look!" another cried, startled. A bluish glare came from the roof. "He's shooting off a Roman candle!" They never saw the man-made bird till it alighted upon the roof. They never thought of shooting at it until it had taken wing! Then they rushed the doors of the house. They made short work of Jones, whom they tied up like a Christmas fowl and plumped roughly into a chair. They broke open the safe, to find it empty. And while the rogues were rummaging about the room, venting their spite upon many a treasure they could neither appreciate nor understand, a man from the outside burst in. "The old man is dead and the money is at the bottom of the ocean! We punctured her. She's gone!" A thin, inscrutable smile stirred the lips of the man bound in the chair. CHAPTER II