Stall fell with a yell of rage and pain, and Kilgore found himself alone, and against odds.
He turned like a flash, and darted out of the rear door of the house.
He knew that the game was up, his confederates done for, and his own chances of escape but small; and the situation stirred to their very depths the worst elements of this lifelong criminal.
But one thought possessed him—that of revenge, that of destroying the chief cause of his downfall—Nick Carter.
With this end in view, Kilgore tore like a madman through the blinding rain of that tempestuous night, and shaped his course back to the diamond plant.
CHAPTER XXI.
AN ONLY RESOURCE.
Despite the corner in which he had placed himself, a situation far more desperate than he at first imagined, Nick Carter was congratulating himself upon the success of his ruse by which he had so quickly located the secret plant of the diamond swindlers, even at the sacrifice of his personal freedom.
The fact that he now sat bound in a chair in the hidden stronghold of the gang, watched only by Cervera, did not seriously disturb the fearless detective.