Goulard laughed again and pushed his revolver farther through the grille door.
"I’d love to, Carter!" he cried, under his breath. "I’d love to press the trigger and perforate your cursed skin with a bullet. But the risk is too great. I might be heard, intercepted in my flight, and perhaps railroaded to the chair. There will be a safer time and place. I will wait for it, watch for it, and there then will be no hesitation. I will kill you, Carter, for what you have done to me. As sure as God hears me—I will kill you."
"God may intervene and——”
"Remember!"
The fierce, malevolent face, pressed for a last moment to the grille door, vanished instantly, and the vengeful knave was gone.
Nick Carter heard his swiftly receding steps on the pavements. It was the only sound that broke the night silence in that locality. It died away so quickly, too, that it had seemed hardly perceptible.
Nick seized the grille door and tried to open it—tried vainly.
It withstood his utmost efforts.
CHAPTER II.
PARTNERS IN CRIME.
Nick Carter was not disturbed in the least degree by the threats of Gaston Goulard. He had been threatened too frequently by crooks to pay any attention to their sinister predictions.