He was right, for reaching the tenement house in which Thomas lived, the two crooks hurried upstairs and into one of the rooms.
Patsy had fairly followed them to the door unknown to them and seeing them safely in, he turned and went down the stairs into the street, saying to himself:
“Now, what was it all about? I must lay by to get a chance to talk to Spike when they come out.”
He made his way to a drinking place which he knew to be one of the haunts of Spike and Bally Morris, to wait for them.
CHAPTER IX.
A THIEF ROBS A THIEF.
The result of the investigation of Chick within the barroom, and of Nick without the house, was to show that there were two entrances to the upper story.
One was by the outside staircase at the rear, which had evidently been used by the four, and the other by a hallway, the door of which was on the avenue.
Nick had tried and found that the door at the front of the house was locked and bolted on the other side.
Chick had found that there was a door at the rear of the barroom which opened into this hall from which a flight of stairs ran up to the second floor.
Chick joined Nick in the cross street near the rear door that led from the street into the barroom. They exchanged their information, and Nick said: