The infernal regions could hardly furnish such a row of scowling faces. The crooks saw themselves trapped, and their rage was boundless.
On the desk and around it was spread out the plunder which they had brought. Its value went up well into the tens of thousands.
A richer haul had not been made in New York in many a day.
It had been arranged that Inspector McLaughlin should come at three o’clock. He wished to see the mice in the trap.
Exactly at that hour he arrived. Chick met him on the outside.
The crooks had stopped coming by that time, and so Benton’s sentries were gathered in and sent to the station.
Inspector McLaughlin smiled when he viewed the semicircle of fettered crooks.
Several of them were men whom he had long desired to have in exactly this position.
“Your mouse trap was a great success, Nick,” said he.
“It has caught a fair lot of vermin.”