Nick turned like a flash and seized Nancy Selig by the throat.
“Handcuffs, Patsy,” he muttered. “Be quick. Chick is here before us.”
Patsy was out and at work before the last was said, and in thirty seconds Nancy Selig was lying on the ground, manacled hand and foot.
Lady Deland was nearly fainting, but neither detective noticed her.
Both rushed to the back door, still ajar and showing a beam of light.
Nick was the first to reach and open it, dashing into the hall, revolver in hand. He saw Chick on the floor, the four men above him, and the hand of Andy Margate raised with a revolver to beat out the fallen detective’s brains.
Nick fired on the instant, and the bullet went true.
Margate pitched forward in a heap, with an ounce of lead in his brain, and instant consternation and dismay fell upon his three confederates.
“Hands up, you fellows, or there’ll be another corpse here,” Nick cried sternly, with the rascals effectively covered. “Look after Chick, Patsy. I can attend to these rats.”
The “rats” did not dare to show fight. They yielded with curses and imprecations, and within ten more minutes the case was practically ended. All were secured, followed later by Zeke Selig’s wife, and the entire family went to prison for a term of years for their work of that night.