The fact that the diamond merchant had been implicated in the robbery could not aid the detective at that time. He had no proof except the words of the sailor he had heard while listening on the stairs. But all in good time the necessary evidence would be found, he was certain of that.
Nick might now do one of two things.
One was to remain in the basement, and get to the sailor after he had been dumped down the shaft. Wounded and in fear of death, the man would be likely to tell all he knew about the diamond robbery.
The other was to force his way out of the basement and take the sailor with Patsy into custody. This man probably knew as much of the affair as the other.
After studying the matter over, Nick decided to remain and assist the sailor out of the den he was in. The other man might prove sullen and refuse to talk after being placed under arrest. Besides, humanity prompted the detective to help the wounded sailor. Only that such a course would have placed Hartley on his guard and defeated all his plans, Nick would have beaten down the door and rushed to the rescue of the sailor then and there. In fact, this was his first idea, but he quickly saw that to do so would be to imperil the success of the case.
But it was not entirely in the hope of recovering the diamonds that the detective decided to remain where he was.
There might be peril in remaining, but there were things to be cleared up of more importance than the recovery of the diamonds.
The sailor might be able to throw some light on the strange murder of Alvin Maynard.
At least he would be able to tell how the diamonds had been secured, and to explain the situation in the house at the time of his visit.
He was positive that the robbers had not passed beyond Anton’s room, and he wanted an account of what had taken place there.