said he. "They
described it well enough for me to know it when I see it. Looks like
a robber's hole at this time of night," he laughed; "but what can you
expect from a manufactory of patent medicine?"

Mr. Grey was silent. He was looking very earnestly at the building.

"It is larger than I expected," he remarked at last.

Sweetwater himself was surprised, but as they advanced and their point
of view changed they found it to be really an insignificant structure,
and Mr. Wellgood's portion of it more insignificant still.

In reality it was a collection of three stores under one roof: two of
them were shut up and evidently unoccupied, the third showed a lighted
window. This was the manufactory. It occupied the middle place and
presented a tolerably decent appearance. It showed, besides the lighted
lamp I have mentioned, such signs of life as a few packing-boxes tumbled
out on the small platform in front, and a whinnying horse attached to an
empty buggy, tied to a post on the opposite side of the road.

"I'm glad to see the lamp," muttered Sweetwater. "Now, what shall we do?
Is it light enough for you to see his face, if I can manage to bring him
to the door?"

Mr. Grey seemed startled.

"It's darker than I thought," said he. "But call the man and if I can
not see him plainly, I'll shout to the horse to stand, which you will
take as a signal to bring this Wellgood nearer. But do not be surprised
if I ride off before he reaches the buggy. I'll come back again and take
you up farther down the road."

"All right, sir," answered Sweetwater, with a side glance at the
speaker's inscrutable features. "It's a go!" And leaping to the ground
he advanced to the manufactory door and knocked loudly.

No one appeared.

He tried the latch; it lifted, but the door did not open; it was
fastened from within.

"Strange!" he muttered, casting a glance at the waiting horse and buggy,
then at the lighted window, which was on the second floor directly over
his head. "Guess I'll sing out."

Here he shouted the man's name. "Wellgood! I say, Wellgood!"

No response to this either.

"Looks bad!" he acknowledged to himself; and, taking a step back, he
looked up at the window.

It was closed, but there was neither shade nor curtain to obstruct the
view.

"Do you see anything?" he inquired of Mr. Grey, who sat with his eye at
the small window in the buggy top.

"Nothing."

"No movement in the room above? No shadow at the window