"As soon as these men are sufficiently recovered to reply to my questions, I shall ask a few of them; but in the meantime I must go over to the other house. Do you think, senator, that you can stand guard over these men while I am gone?"
"Sure thing, Carter."
"You are armed?"
"Yes."
"Let them see that you are. That is right. Now, senator, I am going to leave you for a short time."
"All right. You will find us all here, just as you see us now, when you return."
"I haven't a doubt of it. But if there should be any effort on the part of any of them to break away, don't hesitate to hurt them, to keep them quiet."
"Oh, I won't. There won't be any of them who will make a second effort," the senator replied significantly.
The detective left him then, and, descending to the basement of the house, passed out by the rear door, and made his way across to the other house, where Chick and Gordon had been on duty, and where he knew that something must have happened by this time, although he had no means of guessing what it might be.
But midway between the doors of the two houses he encountered Chick, who was on his way to him; and they stopped there in the tiny yard to discuss the events of the night.