Confident that the lodgers of the house told the truth, Captain Daly left two of his men on duty there, and started around the block to the other house.
He found the party still on guard at the door, and they had not seen or heard anything of a suspicious nature.
Going around to the other house Captain Daly found that his men had thoroughly searched the place from the cellar to the attic.
They had discovered the door which Will had remembered to have seen in front, and as it was still dripping wet it showed that it had been removed that night from its place, to throw the boy off his guard, but it had, however, failed to do so.
In different rooms of the house was found a quantity of stolen booty, the loss of some of which Captain Daly and his men had heard of, and there was every indication that it was a nest of burglars of a daring and desperate nature.
The Land Sharks had long been known to the police for their bold acts of crime, yet they never before could be located, and even the gruffest of the policemen praised Will for what he had done.
Dawn was now breaking, and a neighbour, coming out of his house, was asked who owned the premises.
He said that his landlord did so, and giving the address, the proprietor of the two houses was at once looked up; but he was amazed at what he heard, for he let the property to an old woman who said she wished to keep boarders, and had regularly paid her rent three months in advance, and had built a new chimney and made other improvements which she had paid for herself.
The landlord was greatly amazed to find what those improvements were, but he could give no clue as to who or what his tenant was, or where she could be found.
Having discovered the secret retreat of the Land Sharks, however, was a cause of congratulation, and the booty found was considerable, so that Will was praised for his good services, and at once told that he was to consider himself a member of the Secret Service and to report the following day after he had become rested, for the night of peril and hardship the good-hearted police-captain could see had told on the brave boy.