ill promise you, Curly, that there shall be no arrest of any kind or
of any person arising out of the visit to Grinnel's place to-night
within twenty-four hours from this moment."

Curly scratched his head a third time very intently and seriously, and
at last asked:

"Don't any of them coves over there know you, Mr. Carter?"

"I suppose," said Nick, smiling, "that every one of them knows me, and
that many of them know Chick as well."

"And so that's Chick, is it? I have heard about him. Well, now, Mr.
Carter, let me ask you this: You just now said that unless I told it,
not a soul would know that you were there at that place to-night if I
took you there. Now, how do you reconcile that with the fact that they
all know you?"

"In this way, Curly: That I shall ask you to wait here a few moments
after you give your consent, while Chick and I step into the next room
and make some alteration in our appearances with things that the
inspector will loan me from his cabinet."

Curly sneered.

"Oh! this is a disguise business, is it? Well, Mr. Carter, do you think
that the guns down there at Grinnel's are such blamed fools as not to
see through a racket of that kind?"

"Oh! I can fool them, all right," said Nick, "if you consent. Now,
Curly, I have given you a promise once before in my life, and lived up
to it literally. I have made you one now, and I will live up to it
literally. The inspector will let you go and will send for you in case
he should want you again. You get your liberty, and I get what I want.
And now, Curly, it's up to you. Will you do it?"

"Yes, by thunder, I'll do it! Go into the next room and get ready. When
you're ready, I am. And I will introduce you and Chick there as a pair
of old pals of mine from the other side of the water."

CHAPTER XXII.

AT MIKE GRINNEL'S DIVE.

When Curly John knocked at the door of the Sunday-night entrance to Mike
Grinnel's dive in a peculiar manner, that was evidently full of
significance to the one behind it, it opened instantly, and the burly
form of the bouncer of the establishment was discovered.

His face, which might have been a stone mask for all the expression it
manifested when he first appeared, beamed with joy, however, when he
discovered Curly John, and thrust out his big hamlike fist with
undoubted enthusiasm.

"Hello, Curly," he said. "I thought you were in limbo."

"And so I was," replied Curly, "until they discovered that they didn't
wa