CHAPTER XI.
A CHIMNEY CLEW.
Patsy followed Spike Thomas and Bally Morris in their mad run from the vengeance of Lannigan.
His purpose was not so much to protect them as it was to get an explanation of a matter which puzzled him.
He was now convinced that Spike Thomas and his companion had entered the apartments of Lannigan and had stolen the drawings and models.
But what puzzled him was when it was done.
The two had been under his eyes almost continuously all day, and it vexed him to think that it should have been done without his even suspecting it.
He soon caught up with the flying crooks and followed them into a small saloon in the neighborhood of Chatham Square.
Both Spike and Morris had been badly frightened by the attack made on them by Lannigan, but when they realized that they were safe from pursuit, and that Lannigan’s murderous assault had been prevented by Nick Carter and his aids, their courage returned.
Their cunning, as well as their desire to profit by their theft, led them to conceal or deny the theft.
In view of the fact that Lannigan had made a vicious attack upon them, they could no longer maintain the story they had given Patsy that they had entered into an arrangement with Lannigan by which they could negotiate the return of the papers for him.