ed into the hall,
but no one was in sight. Bat tiptoed along until he came to a door which
bore two angular "ones" painted upon the panels. A light burned inside;
he saw that through an open transom; but there were no sounds. Scanlon
stood for a moment pondering what should be his next step. If he could
raise himself somehow, so that he'd be able to get a view of the room
through the transom----

"But that wouldn't do," was the thought that followed this. "They're
likely to come out at any moment, and nail me while I peep."

Instinctively his eye went about--and then came to a stop at a door
directly opposite number eleven. This was partly open; the room was
dark; and as Bat, a plan already forming in his mind, pushed the door
slowly open, not a sound or stir greeted him.

"Good!" said he, to himself, a flush of exultation coming over him. "An
empty room. This is real luck!"

He felt about for a light, but stopped, realizing that for his purpose
darkness would be best. In his movements he had knocked against a chair;
so he now drew this up with the back resting against the closed door,
and mounted it. Through the two transoms he had an excellent view of
Number Eleven. Big Slim and Bohlmier stood with the cloth bag at a
table; the burglar produced the tools which they had selected and spread
them out with much neatness of hand.

There followed a short consultation held in whispers and with their lips
held close to each other's ears; then Big Slim selected a couple of the
tools and approached the wall on the right. Quickly the Swiss rolled up
a rug and placed it on the floor directly under the spot selected by the
burglar for his operations. The paper was peeled off in a large circle
about three feet from the floor; then Big Slim attacked the plaster with
a bit that chewed through it rapidly; after a hole had been made large
enough to insert a short steel bar, great lumps of the plaster fell upon
the sound-killing rug beneath. Scanlon marveled at the celerity of the
thing, and while he was doing so a saw cut its way through the lath
beneath the plaster. There was now nothing but a thin layer of the same
substance between the housebreakers and the adjoining room.

"In five minutes they'll be there," said Bat, in perplexity. "And then
what?"

There came a flare of light behind him; with a subdued exclamation he
turned, his hand reaching for the big Colt in its holster beneath his
coat. But the hand paused before it