The trail picked up by Patsy Garvan was becoming so hot, indeed, as he had expressed it, that he now had absolutely no idea of quitting it. He followed the two suspects through Prince Street, noting that they were engaged in a subdued and very earnest discussion, with Shannon doing most of the talking, but Patsy did not venture to attempt overhearing them.
“I could pick up only a word or two at the most, and must take a chance of being seen and suspected,” he rightly reasoned. “That would put them on their guard and knock a further espionage on the head. I’d better keep them in the dark and try to see what’s coming off. If Shannon brought orders from some one to this sinister-looking scamp, it’s long odds that Doctor Devoll was the one. There sure is something in the wind.”
It soon was evident to him that the two men were heading for the stable in which Toby Monk kept his car, and he began to fear that he was booked for the same difficulties he had had the previous night. He felt quite sure of it, in fact, when both men entered the stable and Toby Monk partly closed the front door, precluding a view from the street.
Presently, however, a feeble light from a smoky lantern could be seen, and Patsy muttered perplexedly:
“What do they want of that? They can’t be going out with the car, after all, or a lantern would not be needed. They may have come here only to escape observation while planning a job. I can very soon find out by making use of the back window again.”
He was on his way with the last thought. A couple of minutes brought him to the back fence, over which he climbed noiselessly, and then crept near enough to see and hear through the dusty back window.
Toby Monk was on his knees with a box of blue paste and a brush, engaged in altering the figures on the rear number plate of the touring car.
Shannon was seated on a box near by, with his brawny arms resting on his knees, while he grimly watched the chauffeur’s artistic alterations.
“You’d better let the top down, too, Toby,” he advised, after a moment. “That will help.”
“Mebbe so, Jim, since I’m never seen with it down,” Monk replied. “I’ll drop it before leaving.”