"And then?"

"Then it's our ability against theirs," snarled Kilgore, "If we go lame, with the odds all in our favor, we deserve to be thrown down."

"That's right, too," admitted Dalton.

"Will Pylotte undertake this sort of a job, think you?" inquired Matt Stall.

"Will he?" rejoined Kilgore, with an ugly gleam in his determined eyes.

"He will, or--well, you know! Yes, Matt, he will; and he's just the man for the job."

The vicious significance with which he spoke plainly indicated that, though Cervera may have ruled her own roost, there was but one chief of this gang, and that was Mr. David Kilgore.

He turned sharply about in his chair, and cried:

"Here you, Pylotte! Come and give us your ear! I have work for you to-night!"

Both Pylotte and Cervera quickly turned and hastened to join the gang at the table.

For twenty minutes Kilgore's project for outwitting and securing Nick Carter was earnestly discussed, and every detail of the plan carefully laid.

Then the four men stole quietly out of the house in company.

It then was a little after midnight.

CHAPTER XVI.

THE CUNNING OF JEAN PYLOTTE.

Kilgore had reasoned shrewdly, in so quickly suspecting that Nick Carter would lose no time in getting a line on the Venner residence. Even while the diamond gang were discussing the plan by which to capture the Carters, the two detectives were at times within a hundred yards of the secret plant.

It was dark out of doors that night, with only a few stars in the clouded sky, and the wooded locality and neighboring streets were but poorly lighted.

It was in a northern suburb of New York, a section not yet much encroached upon by the spreading city, and the dwelling owned and occupied by Rufus Venner was that in which three generations of his family had lived and died.

It was a square, old house of brick, set fifty yards from the suburban street, and was flanked in either direction by extensive, ill-kept grounds, made damp and dark by the huge, old trees, which nearly covered the estate.

Back of the house, and off to one side, was a large wooden stable, fast running to ruin; while a rusty iron fence, falling to fragments in places, skirted the dismal grounds in front.

Beyond the trees, far to the rear, could be seen the roof and chimneys of an old, wooden mansion, fronting on another street, and having a very similar environment. There, too, the house and grounds were running to ruin and decay, both places being but crumbling monuments of former opulence and grandeur.

It was upon this scene that Nick Carter and Chick arrived just before midnight, having left their carriage at a remote corner, to await their return.

"Yonder is Venner's house, Chick," said Nick, as they picked their way along the unpaved sidewalk. "We'll vault this iron fence and steal across the grounds."

"It doesn't look much as if our quarry was there," observed Chick, as they scaled the fence.

"Their deeds are dark, and like seeks like," replied Nick. "They now may be making darkness their cover."

"Not a light in the house, is there?"

"None visible from this side. We'll steal between the house and stable, and have a look at the opposite elevation."

"Not much danger of being seen. It's as dark as a n.i.g.g.e.r's pocket under these trees."

"So much the better in case anyone is watching."

"Who lives here with Venner?"

"Only an elderly housekeeper, of whom I don't hear anything very good,"

replied Nick. "Venner is here but part of the time, I am told. In fact, I don't quite fathom his habits."

"Why so?"

"I can't learn what takes him from home so much of the time. He does not leave the city, nor patronize any hotel that I can discover, yet he frequently is away from this house overnight."

"Perhaps he secretly keeps another house, and is leading a double life."

"Possibly," admitted Nick. "He is on friendly terms with numerous women, I learn, and other quarters may be essential to designs of some kind.

Quietly, now, and we'll slip across the back lawn."

Like shadows, as dark as the night itself, they silently reached a point from which they could view the north side of the house. Here they discovered that one of the lower rooms was lighted, with the curtain at the single window nearly drawn.

"Somebody is up," murmured Chick.

"We'll learn who, if possible."

"Going to have a look?"

"Yes. Come, if you like, but don't get into the glare from the curtain.

Kilgore has a very wicked air gun, and if he and his gang are about here, we might invite a bullet."

"I'll have a care."

Stealing closer over the damp greensward, they approached the house and peered beneath the curtain mentioned. There was but one occupant of the room, which was a small library.

In an easy-chair near the table, with a newspaper fallen across his knees, sat Rufus Venner, apparently sound asleep.

This was only a part of the game, however, for Venner was wide awake.

By means of their secret wire, he had been informed of Cervera's arrival at the diamond plant, and of Kilgore's designs upon Nick, and Venner at that moment suspected that he might be under the eye of the detective.

For nearly half an hour Nick waited for some sign of this artifice, but Venner in no way betrayed it.

Presently a clock on the mantel struck the half after one, and the sound appeared to awake him. He yawned, glanced at the clock, then took the lamp from the table and went up to bed. But never so much as a glance toward the window.

Nick led Chick away, and they returned across the lawn to a point beyond the stable.