ged himself in removing it, or, at least, the facial part of
it, so that, although in the dark they could not see him, he had
restored himself, nevertheless, to his proper person.

"Now, Curly," said the detective, "tell me what this all means. I don't
understand it at all."

"Let me talk," interrupted Phil. "It's this way, Carter: When you
escaped from the barroom through the little door into the boss' sanctum,
you had no sooner gone than Grinnel switched on the lights again, and
your absence was discovered. Then it was that the whole bunch lit on to
Curly and Chick here, with both feet, downed them, trussed them up, and
when Chick was taken to the cellar below, to feed the rats, if he had
been left there long enough, Curly was fired along with him. I tell you,
right now, Carter, it's all up with Curly in this place. He never can
make himself good with this bunch again as long as he lives, and it's up
to him to light out now, for good and all, unless he wants to turn up
his toes and go to the morgue."

The detective turned to Curly again, and once more struck a match so
that they could all see the faces of one another.

"Is that straight, Curly?" he asked.

"That's about the size of it, Mr. Carter."

"Then," said Nick, "am I to understand that the occurrences of this
evening have released me from my promise to you to make no arrests in
this place, or any arrest of any one who is now in this place within
twenty-four hours?"

"Yes, sir, the promise is all off. You can do as you've a mind to. It
would suit me to a T if you would gather in the whole push."

"Thank you, Curly," said Nick. "That statement of yours lets me out of a
peck of trouble, for having given the promise, of course I would not
break it, and I could not quite see how we could carry this thing
through to a finish without."

He was silent for a moment after that, and then he asked:

"Can I rely upon you, Curly, to stand by me through what is to come?"

"To the last ditch, Mr. Carter," was the emphatic response.

"And you, Phil--what about you?"

"Well," was the slow reply, for the man was evidently considering his
words with very great care, "I guess my usefulness in this place is just
about over. When the boss finds out that Curly and Chick have both
gotten out of the dungeon below, he will know mighty well who it was
that let them out, and that will mean yours truly for the dead wagon in
about fifteen minutes; so I think, Carter, that I'd