l came to his senses. He was in a bad condition, however, and
those who saw him predicted that the detective had followed his last
trail. A search of the building brought to light Madge Scarlet, who
was fuming angrily over her imprisonment.

"How did this happen?" demanded Bernard, sternly, when he came to
question the hag. She was sullen, however, and refused to answer.

"I imagine there is a way to bring your tongue into working order,"
said Bernard, in a stern voice.

"I keep a respectable house, sir; you can't harm me."

"We'll see about that."

"Did you find any one?" questioned the jezabel in an apparently
careless tone.

"We have two of your friends in limbo," returned Harry. "You will find
it no holiday affair to keep a house for the purpose of murder and
robbery. Never mind, you need say nothing, for it will not better
matters in the least. Come;" and Harry Bernard led the old woman from
the cellar.

A patrol wagon bore the prisoners to the lock-up, and Bernard had Dyke
Darrel taken to a private hospital, where he could have the best of
care. It was some days, however, before the badly battered detective
came to his senses sufficiently to converse on the subject of the
racket in the building on Clark street.

"My soul! Harry, has nothing been discovered of poor Nell?--was she
killed?" questioned the wounded man in a voice wrung with anguish.

"I don't think Nell was mortally hurt," returned Bernard in a
reassuring tone, although he hardly felt hopeful himself. "If she was,
why should the villains have taken her away, or the villain rather,
since, from your account, I judge that but one of them escaped, and he
the man with the red hair."

"Yes, he seemed the chief scoundrel among them. I heard him called
Professor Ruggles."

"He is about as much a professor as I am," answered Bernard.

"HE is the man we want for that midnight crime on the express train. I
have evidence enough now, Dyke, to prove that this man is the guilty
principal, and I also believe that one of his accomplices is now in
prison."

"Indeed!"

And then the detective groaned in anguish of spirit and of body. It
was hard to lay here, helpless as a child, while the fate of Nell was
uncertain, and there was so much need for a keen detective to be
afloat. Harry realized how his friend suffered, and soothed him as
best he could. "Leave no stone unturned to find her, Harry," urged the
detective. "If you do find and save her, great sh