stepped into the crisp night air.

"Garth," the inspector said, "you and Nora ought to have medals or
something. That pale-face at the head of the gang is Jerry Smith. He
must have been sent on from San Francisco. If there's a country-wide
syndicate of crime he's on the board of directors along with your old
friend Slim."

"Some day," Garth said, "that syndicate will be tapped properly."

Nora, after her experience in the heavy, repellent atmosphere of the
house, was anxious to remain in the air. She proposed that they walk
down town.

Garth, aware of her displeasure, scarcely dared suggest an answer to his
curiosity, but the inspector, in a happier mood, did not hesitate.

"Maybe, Nora, you'll tell us how you got in that dive as a first class
housemaid."

"There was only one way I could think of," she answered. "The place was
bound to make cases for Bellevue, so I went to the head nurse and took
her into my confidence. She kept me posted. At every chance I went there
and was apparently ill myself of the same dreadful illness as the
patient in the next cot. About two weeks ago the head nurse telephoned
me a case had come in which looked promising. I've been there since.
I'll confess, the best I hoped for was the number of the house, but this
girl grew confidential finally. She had actually worked there. When she
found she couldn't go back for a long time, and learned that I was about
to be discharged as cured, she whispered a telephone number and a name.
She said they would want somebody and it was hard to get just the right
kind. I called up last night and told them about her and my anxiety for
the place. A meeting was arranged with Smith in a cafe. He wouldn't give
me the address, but he agreed to take me there this afternoon. You see
he wouldn't have let me out again until he was sure of me--no afternoons
off there."

"Clever, Nora," the inspector muttered.

She shook her head.

"Only choosing the best chance. I knew I couldn't trace them in any
obvious fashion. They were too careful. Few customers had the run of the
place. The stuff was taken to the rest. The way they had Black followed
last night to make sure he left no trail shows how they accounted for
everything. He had evidently been seen answering to that generous
symptom of his before."

Garth noticed that she did not speak to him directly, but her resentment
could not completely veil her relief at his safety, her appreciation of
the courage th