It was just after this that he heard a startled little cry from the girl behind him, and then a voice that sent his heart into his mouth.
“All right! All right! All right!”
There was only one man who used that tag, and Jimmy’s heart rose up to bless his name in thankfulness.
“This way, Miss Kent,” said the voice, “mind the little step. Don’t be afraid of the gentleman on the floor, he’s handcuffed and strapped and gagged, and is perfectly harmless.”
Jimmy chuckled. The mystery of Angel’s intimate knowledge of the “Lot’s” plans and of Connor’s movements, the disappearance of Goyle, were all explained. He did not know for certain that the occupant of the “empty” house next door had industriously cut through the thin party-walls that separated the two houses, and had rigged up a “back” to the cupboard that was really a door, but he guessed it.
Then a blinding ray of light shot into the room where the “Borough Lot” still groped for its enemy, and a gentle voice said—
“Gentlemen, you may make your choice which way you go—out by the front door, where my friend, Inspector Collyer, with quite a large number of men, is waiting; or by the back door, where Sergeant Murtle and exactly seven plain-clothes men are impatiently expecting you.”
Bat recognized the voice.
“Angel Esquire!” he cried in consternation.
From the darkness behind the dazzling electric lamp that threw a narrow lane of light into the apartment came an amused chuckle.