“Well?” put in Nick.
“There was nothing to it after that,” replied Patsy, grinning. “The chinks got off at Hundred and Twenty-fifth and walked east. I was a block behind them. They turned the corner when they got to Third Avenue, and then another corner. I landed them at last. They went into a chink laundry that was all dark. One of them knocked at the door. It was opened right away. I guess there was a peephole. But after a while the door swung back and the two went in.”
“And that was all?”
“Not quite. I hung around for a while, and, sure enough, four other Chinamen came and got in. I couldn’t see whether they were the same four I’d been watching on Fifth Avenue, and who got away from me, but it’s a gold watch to a rusty nail that they were.”
“You know just where this laundry is, of course?” asked Nick.
“Gee! Yes. I can lead you right to it. But there’s a little more I haven’t told you yet. I thought, if I hung around for a while, I might find out something else. So I crossed the street, a little way below the laundry. Then I came back and got into a doorway right opposite. I hadn’t been there more than two minutes, when a taxicab came up and a tall man got out. I got only a glimpse of him. He had a long black coat and soft hat, and he wore spectacles with big black rims.”
Nick Carter betrayed the first excitement that had marked him since Patsy began to tell his story.[Pg 24]
“Was he a Chinaman or a Japanese, Patsy?” he asked eagerly.
“Search me. I couldn’t see in the dark.”
“Where did he go?”