lutched his victim about the throat, and with the
other he struck out heavily. There was a stifled groan, and the man fell
limp in the boy's arms.

Glancing hurriedly about to see that there was no one in sight--no
witness to his deed--Chester dragged the man into the doorway. Here he
quickly discarded his own clothes, stripped the stranger of his outer
garments and donned them himself.

Then tearing his own clothes into strips, he bound his victim and gagged
him, after which, now attired in his victim's clothes, he stood up and
made a search of the pockets.

"If my surmise is correct," he said to himself, "I shall be all right."

The hand which was exploring the inside breast pocket came forth with a
little piece of cloth.

"Good!" the lad exclaimed. "I thought as much. I didn't believe they
would take too many chances. A stranger might get in and betray them."

For the little piece of cloth the lad had taken from the pocket of his
newly acquired apparel was a black mask.

"Now," said the boy to himself, "to see if I cannot find out who I am
supposed to be."

He continued the search of the pockets. Several pieces of paper and one
or two documents he glanced at hurriedly, and restored. Finally he drew
out a paper that seemed to please him, for his face lighted up with a
smile. He glanced at the slip of paper and read aloud:

"This is to certify that the bearer is an accredited agent of the
One King."

At the bottom was a seal of peculiar design, but there was no signature.

"Evidently," said the lad, "members of this gang are not known to one
another, at least all of them. They may spot me and they may not.
However, I've got to take a chance. Nothing risked, nothing gained."

The lad stepped quickly from his place of concealment and approached
where the man he had followed had turned in more than an hour before. He
descended the steps into the basement and knocked upon the door--once
loudly, three times softly, and once loudly again.

The door swung open before him, and a masked man peered out. Taking a
deep breath, and feeling in his pocket to make sure that his revolver was
in readiness, the lad stepped inside. The door swung to behind him.

Chester followed the man who had opened the door down a dark hallway, and
into a dimly lighted room. Masked as he was, the boy had little fear of
being discovered, but his hand rested on his automatic in his right-hand
coat pocket.

Inside the room Chester percei