“If it is to be one of us who must go down and out, Carter, it will be you! Take my word for that!”

For a moment Nick gazed sternly at him across the dismal place, then coldly retorted:

“Since I have only your word for it, Badger, I feel perfectly safe!”

Badger vented a half-smothered growl, then closed the heavy door with a resounding bang.

Nick heard the shooting of bolts and the sound of a bar dropped into place.

Then all was silence for a time—silence and darkness!


CHAPTER XIV.
SHADOWS AND SHADOWED.

“Thundering guns!” muttered Patsy. “He’d be an ugly cur to meet in the dark.”