mouth?" screamed the dancer,
with a vicious display of scornful resentment. "Not kill you? I've a
mind to order it done at once, you wretch! I hate such reptiles as you!"

Nick laughed.

"If you were to order it done, senora, and the knife were at my throat,"
said he, "your order would certainly be countermanded."

"What! By whom?" cried Cervera, with her passionate, dark eyes fiercely
blazing. "I'll have you know that I rule here--and not here alone!"

"Yet your command would be revoked, senora."

"For what reason, villain?"

"It would be revoked at the request of our mutual friend, Mr. Rufus
Venner, to whom I presently shall explain my conduct, and also implore
your own pardon, senora, for having made you the mark of my very
unworthy suspicions," cried Nick, with a sudden dramatic display of
dignity and confidence.

It brought Venner sharply to his feet.

"Good heavens!" he cried. "What do you mean, sir?"

"Ay, what do you mean?" roared Kilgore, bracing straight up in his chair
and reaching for his gun--a move Nick pretended he did not see.

"I only mean, gentlemen, that I am no burglar," cried Nick, in his
natural voice, at the same time raising his bound hands to remove his
disguise. "Allow me, Mr. Venner, to present myself in proper person."

"The devil and all his followers!" yelled Venner. "You're--you're Nick
Carter!"

"None other," bowed Nick, smiling and tossing his disguise upon the
table. "Plainly, Venner, you are greatly surprised at seeing me--and I
do not wonder at it."

Yet for all that Nick did wonder a little, since he could not yet
determine just how much of this scene was on the level.

The faces of Kilgore and Matthew Stall, however, betrayed more secret
exultation than surprise. Plainly enough both were now convinced that
Nick did not recognize them, nor even suspect that he himself had been
recognized--and these were precisely the two convictions Nick had aimed
to convey by his masterly move in thus disclosing himself.

"Yes, Senora Cervera," he hastened to add, before any of the startled
group could speak, "I owe you a profound apology. I did you the
injustice to suspect you, not only of being a thief, but also of being
identified with the notorious Kilgore gang, three of the cleverest and
most dangerous swindlers in the world."

"Perdition!" gasped Cervera. "You astound me."

"I was led to suspect you, senora, because your letter to Venner took
him from his store just at th