"Don't you know, Nick Carter, that you have walked directly into a trap, from which you cannot escape? And were you not aware before you came here that if your identity became known your life wouldn't be worth a moment's purchase? If you so much as quiver an eyelid, Nick Carter, I will call out your name, and point you out as a spy, and you know what that will mean in Mike Grinnel's dive."
CHAPTER XXIII.
BLACK MADGE'S DEFIANCE.
It was a crucial moment for each of the three men who were seated at that table, and it affected each of the three quite differently.
Chick was concerned only for the safety of his chief, for even then it did not occur to him that Black Madge had taken sufficient interest in himself to identify him, and that doubtless she still regarded him as really a friend of Curly's.
Curly was plainly frightened, as well as utterly astounded. It had never occurred to him that the disguise of Nick Carter, which had seemed to him to be perfect, would be, or could be, so readily penetrated; and he realized, for the moment, at least, that he was in as much danger as Nick Carter himself, for if it should be known to the others—or should suddenly be made known to them—that Nick Carter was in that room, they would not only kill the detective, but they would also murder the man who had dared to bring him there.
Black Madge was as thoroughly aware of this fact as was Curly himself, and she did the latter justice to believe that somehow he had been imposed upon by the detective, just as Nick had sought to impose upon all of them; in a word, she did not blame Curly for the existing situation.
As for the situation itself, she was delighted with it, for it had thrust Nick Carter into her power much more quickly and certainly than she had ever supposed it could be done.
She had not been seated at the table with them a full minute before she was perfectly assured in her own mind that the man opposite her was Nick Carter, and it did not occur to her to doubt that the other man was one of his assistants—it made no difference to her which one.