me to his ears, a fact
which led him to determine that either Chick had already been done for
by the frequenters of the dive, or else that he had been made a
prisoner, and was lying somewhere, bound and gagged, awaiting the return
of Grinnel.

Nick now crept along the hall until his hand came in contact with a
balustrade; and here he paused, uncertain whether to proceed through the
hall to the rear of the building, which he knew should give an entrance
to the saloon, or to ascend the stairs and temporarily hide himself in
the neighborhood of the house. Everything considered, this latter course
was distinctly the best one, since, doubtless, it would never occur to
Mike Grinnel or to any of those who were concerned with him in this
incident, that Nick Carter would have the temerity to return to the same
house from which he had just escaped.

Therefore, if safety were the only incentive for Nick Carter, to act
upon this was the very best course he could have adopted. But Nick was
ever one who considered his own safety last. His whole impulse now was
to do the best that could be done to get Chick out of the predicament
into which he had been thrust; and he considered that to be the very
method he had adopted.

Nick knew the characteristics of the people against whom he was pitted
well enough to understand that the moment they realized that he had
escaped them they would simply return to the saloon of the dive to
discuss it--and doubtless, also, to call to severe account those who
were responsible for the affair.

Such a discussion would not take place until two things had
happened--until they were satisfied utterly that Nick Carter had escaped
them, and also that they had Chick so thoroughly in their power that he
could not hope to escape.

And so the detective ascended the stairs softly, and as silently as a
shadow. He had no means of knowing, of course, the character of the
rooms on those floors, or their location; but, nevertheless, the
circumstances were such that he had to take desperate chances, and
therefore when he reached the landing he felt with his hands silently
along the wall until he came to a door, which he felt slowly down until
he touched the knob. This he turned, trying to open the door which
resisted him, showing that it was locked.

There is a way to force a door--that is, an ordinary door--and at the
same time make very little noise. It is done--if the door opens
inward--by seizing the knob firm