ess were followed by the vicious
cracks of large caliber automatics.

"Down, Chief!" cried Haggerty.

Carnes dropped to the ground, the beam of light following his
movements. Four more flashes came from the darkness. Mud was thrown up
into his face. Dillon's gun joined Haggerty's in barking defiance into
the night.

A groan came from Haggerty.

"Hit, Tom?" asked Carnes anxiously.

"A little, but don't let that bother you. Get that damned light!"

He fired again, groaning at he did so. There was a crash from over the
marsh and the light went out.

"Good work, Tom!" cried Carnes.

He raised his pistol and fired again and again into the darkness, from
which still came the flashes of orange light. A cry of pain rewarded
him.

"Come on, men, rush them!" he cried.

He jumped to his feet and dashed forward. A fresh beam of light
stabbed a path through the darkness. A volley of fire came from behind
it. Haggerty stumbled and fell.

"They've got me, Chief!" he cried faintly.

Disregarding the storm of bullets, Carnes charged ahead, Dillon at his
heels. A sudden shout came from his left. A fresh beam of light made a
path through the darkness and Carnes could see his opponents lying
prone on the marsh. A cry of dismay came from them. Carnes fired again
as he rushed forward. The men leaped to their feet and fled away into
the darkness.

"Your light, Dillon!" he cried.

Dillon's light shone out and picked up one of the fleeing figures. The
beam from the left was centered on another.

"Halt!" came a stern voice from behind the light. "You are surrounded!
If I give the word to fire, you are dead men!"

"Dr. Bird!" cried Carnes in amazement.

* * * * *

The fleeing man in the beam of Dillon's light paused.

"Drop your gun!" cried Carnes sharply.

There was a moment of hesitation before the man's gun fell and his
hands went up.

"Get him, Carnes!" came Dr. Bird's voice. "I've got another one held
out here. I hope one of them is the man we want."

As Dillon slipped handcuffs on his prisoner, Dr. Bird came forward,
driving another Russian before him. In his hand was a piece of iron
pipe.

"Cuff him, Carnes!" he said.

The detective slipped handcuffs on the man while Dr. Bird bent down
and examined the face of each of the prisoners with his light. He
straightened up with an exclamation of anger.

"These are nothing but tools," he said bitterly. "We had the
arch-conspirator