“Not by a long shot!” he shouted. “Get rid of this, Hart, before he can learn what it——”
But he got no further, for Nick Carter did not stand on ceremony. He leaped at Floyd and wrenched the package from him, as the latter was about to toss it to Hart, and then he forced him fiercely against the wall.
Then came the jingle and snapping of steel—and Floyd was in handcuffs.
“Let those keep you quiet,” said Nick sharply. “I think, now, we are in a fair way to settle this business—and settle it right!”
CHAPTER IX.
THE LOOTING GAME.
The situation in which Chick Carter suddenly found himself with Lady Waldmere was not an enviable one. Without knowing just how it had come about, Chick realized on the instant that he was caught like a rat in a corner, the interior room having no window, nor any way of egress save through the door, then barred by the tall figure and threatening weapon of Morris Garland, to say nothing of the burly cabman behind him.
Chick was not blind, however, to one offsetting advantage the room afforded, or might possibly be made to afford. If he could escape only through the door, he also could be attacked only from that direction.
Chick took that in on the instant, also, and he was in no mood to yield submissively to the two threatening miscreants in the hall.
He threw up his hands, nevertheless, while a shriek of terror came from Lady Waldmere—both sufficient to throw Garland off his guard for the fraction of a second.
Instantly Chick took advantage of it.