The mere fact that the two detectives were in the company of Curly John was sufficient voucher for their personalities, and it did not occur to anybody, not even to Mike Grinnel himself, to question them.
They were there; they were with Curly John; he had brought them, and that was enough. And, although there were many expressions of welcome spoken and called out to Curly John when he passed into the room and took his seat at the table, nobody in all that throng offered to approach him, for it was an unwritten law of the underworld that a man who reappears for the first time among his associates after imprisonment is left alone to make his own advances when he is pleased to do so.
As for the two strangers who accompanied him, their presence did not concern the others, so long as Curly John vouched for them.
If they thought anything about it at all, they assumed that the burglar was preparing for another professional trip, and that the two strangers were interested in his plans. They all regarded it as none of their affair, and in the underworld it is the rule of life to mind your own business, and let other people do the same.
As soon as the detective had taken his seat—which he was careful to do in such a position that he could command a view of the greater part of the room without perceptibly turning his head—he began, little by little, and one by one, to study the people who were there.
At first he paid no attention whatever to the men; but, since it was a fact that more than half of the guests, or patrons, or whatever you please to call them, were women, and as there were at least sixty persons present, it was some time before his eyes rested upon the face that he sought.
But Madge was there without question. She had not thought it necessary to attempt any disguise of any sort, and her bold, black eyes were roving restlessly about the room when Nick Carter encountered them.
But his own were so thoroughly shaded by the wide brim of the slouch hat he wore that he did not believe that she knew he was looking at her.
In this manner he studied her for some time, and discovered that she was furtively watching Curly John and the two who had come there with him.
It was apparent to the detective that Black Madge had not overcome her old habit of suspecting everybody; and the mere fact that there were two strangers present in the room, even though they were accompanied by one of the old habitués of the place, was to her a warning that they might not be all right.