"They're safe here," Cron answered. "I'll get them."
He started across the room, but just then a loud knock sounded on the door.
The four froze into tense attitudes.
"Better answer," Lynch whispered. "Maybe it's only your landlord."
"Who's there?" Cron demanded.
"Open up!" a voice shouted. "Open in the name of the law!"
"The police!" Cron muttered in an undertone. "Quick! Down the fire escape!"
"Open the door or we'll break it down!" came the shouted warning.
Cron and his companions ran to the window, there to halt in dismay as they faced three policemen who had crept up the iron stairway so quietly that they had not been heard. The four crooks were covered before they could reach for their guns.
"Hands up!" An officer ordered tersely, stepping through the window into the studio.