studied the board, Phil was looking about the room.
At one side of the room there was a window looking out on a side street
or alley, Phil did not know which. Right beside it was a door. He
decided that this was the best means of exit, for in the dark alleyway
he could pass anyone coming in without their seeing who it was, and once
in the shadows, he could look up and down the street, and make his
escape as soon as it looked clear.

The immediate thing to be done was to bring the game to a close. His
opponent had made his move, and concentrating on the game, Phil saw an
obscure move, which, once made, would give his opponent the game.
Without further hesitation, he made it, and the other player seized the
advantage and won the game.

While he was chuckling over his victory, the other man was demanding a
return chance at Phil, but the Boy Ranger forestalled this by pleading a
headache from the heat and the smoke-filled room.

"Tell you what," he said. "You two play a game, while I go outside for a
few minutes and clear my head, then I'll come back and take you on
again."

This proved to be agreeable to the others, and in another moment they
were absorbed in the start of the game. Carefully edging his way over to
the side door, he waited till no one was looking at him, then opened the
door and slipped through--not into an alleyway, but into another room!

He had been fooled by the close proximity of the window, never dreaming
that there was an ell-like extension beginning flush at the side of the
window. Hastily glancing about, he saw another door, and running to it,
threw it open, only to have Jean LeBlanc enter just as he opened it.

CHAPTER XIII.

TRAPPED.

Phil's hand darted to his pocket for the automatic that Garry had given
him before he started on his mission, but he was not quick enough, for
in less than an instant LeBlanc had leaped upon him, pinioning his arms
to his side. Phil was helpless in the grasp of the half-breed. LeBlanc
called in French for help, and in another moment the black moustached
proprietor came rushing in.

While LeBlanc held Phil, Canuck searched his pockets, taking from him
what little money he had, and the automatic revolver. Evidently
suspicious that Phil might have some other weapon concealed about him,
they made him unlace and take off his shoepacks; here, of course, they
found nothing, but fortunately they did not notice the secret pocket
that he had made in the lap