“We shall see how ample they are.”
“Is that so?” Badger turned like a flash. “Watch out from the back window, Freeland,” he commanded. “This dick may have more on us than we know for. Make sure you are not seen.”
“That last ain’t necessary,” said Freeland, with a growl while he hurried into one of the back rooms.
Glidden returned at that moment, bringing a piece of rope, and the rascals then proceeded to bind Nick so securely that self-liberation was next to impossible.[Pg 28]
Sadie Badger coolly set up the table in the meantime and replaced the articles that had fallen to the floor. She no longer appeared disturbed over learning that this man by whom she had been duped was none other than Nick Carter. She seemed to feel, like her notorious brother, that he had invited his finish.
That none of the gang viewed the matter in any other way, appeared in the freedom with which they began to discuss the situation, without the slightest regard for the presence of the detective and what he might, by some remote possibility, accomplish.
“Now, Sadie, give it to me straight,” said Badger, after Nick had been securely bound. “How did the dick fool you?”
Sadie Badger told him, concealing nothing.
“I’ve exposed the whole layout, Ben, and the bumper that queers the wheel,” she said, when concluding. “There’s nothing to it. We’re up against it.”
“Up against it be hanged,” Badger declared, with a growl. “You’ve told me nothing that cuts any ice. He’s got nothing on us for the job. We’ve got no blood on our hands, nor likely to have any, barring we put the greaser away to get his baubles. See here——”