“The wretches did not know that.”
“He would have told them.”
“Not before us!”
M. Fuselier shook his head emphatically.
“No, no,” he asseverated, “I tell you Juve is innocent.”
“And I,” retorted Tom Bob, no less convinced it seemed, “I tell you the gang, thinking Juve, that is to say Fantômas, was definitely unmasked, resolved to deliver their Chief. They have delivered him and have so delivered him as to make you think they were treating him with brutal violence, merely the better to deceive you ...”
M. Fuselier, suddenly recalling the words Juve had uttered a few hours before concerning Tom Bob, grew thoughtful and gazed at the detective with eyes of sheer bewilderment.
CHAPTER XXVI
JUVE HEARS CONFESSIONS
Hoarse, croaking voices were whispering together:
“Must get to work, half-past two ... day’ll be here directly ... hurry up, chaps ... to business!”