"By thunder!" gasped Clancy, startled.
"What do you think of that?" murmured the bewildered Burton.
"Katz, or I'm a Hottentot!" whispered Hill.
There followed a few moments of silence, during which the three at the cotside exchanged wondering glances. Here was a situation which seemed incomprehensible to all of them.
Katz's eyes were closed, and the breath came and went stertorously between his bloated lips. His face was puffed and of a purplish hue.
"What's the matter with him?" queried Burton.
"He came within one of being suffocated, that's all," Clancy answered. "Get the ropes off his hands and feet, so he'll be more comfortable. I don't think it will be long before he opens his eyes."
The motor wizard was right. Hardly had Katz been freed of the ropes when his eyelids flickered wide open. He stared up dazedly into the faces bending over him.
"Wynn!" he exclaimed, his wits wandering. "You're double-crossin' me, eh, same as we double-crossed Burton? You and Hogan are going to make off with the swag! Well, it won't do you no good, you can gamble on that. You'll be sorry you did this–some day–and—"
Here his voice trailed off into incoherent mumbling. It was quite evident that there had been a bad "split" in the gang.