“I have pretty near succeeded in doing that, I reckon. Cricket shadowed Carter from the Holland Hotel to the Central House and reported to Spark and me. Then I put up that job and called up Carter on the Central House phone. Spark was beside the glazed window in the court, and he fired the shot that put this crack detective of yours out of the chase after these bank robbers.
“I didn’t count on having such good luck as to connect with one of Carter’s assistants; and now that we’ve got you, Jones, or whatever your name is, we’ll see that you’re properly taken care of.”
“You may be able to take care of me,” said the detective, “but you’ll still have Nick Carter to settle with.”
“Carter!” sneered Clancy. “Why, he ain’t in it with me when it comes down to head work. I can think all around him any day in the week.”
“You’re thinking all around him now,” answered Nick, quietly.
“What do you mean by that?”
“You’ll know some time.”
“Quit this fooling!” cried Spark. “Let’s get rid of the fool and then push on toward the Canadian line. I won’t feel easy till we cross the border.”
That was Nick’s first clew to the intentions of Clancy and his pals.
They were working to get into Canada, where an American detective could not touch them without going through a lot of red-tape proceedings.