Patsy had caught sight of Goulard’s head, thrust cautiously around the corner of a shed in the near distance. He was gazing at the windows of the Badger house.
Presently, after glancing sharply around, Goulard emerged from his concealment and approached the entrance to the porch mentioned.
At the same moment, giving Patsy a second surprise, he caught sight of a man coming rapidly through the passageway from the lime shed.
“Great guns! that’s Ben Badger himself, the king-pin of his knavish gang,” he said to himself, instantly recognizing the notorious gangster. “He’s bound to meet Goulard in the alley. I wonder if that’s been fixed.”
That it had not been fixed was speedily apparent.
The two men nearly collided a moment later, plainly seen by Patsy, and the manner and looks with which both recoiled convinced him that the meeting was purely accidental.
Their surprise and consternation was of brief duration, however, for they quickly began to converse in low tones, though Patsy could only conjecture what they were discussing.
They talked in the alley for about five minutes, and Badger then led the way to the porch, where Patsy no longer could see them.
As a matter of fact, however, quietly entering the basement door of the house, Badger caught the sound of Nick Carter’s voice, in discussion with Sadie, and the nature of the detective’s remarks, coupled with the arrival of Goulard and what he had just stated, speedily exposed Nick’s subterfuge and designs.
Patsy, waiting and watching, then saw Badger emerge from the porch and run at top speed through the passageway, and then disappear into the lime shed.