climbin' the
fence. Come on!"

Bread upon the waters! With a sense of warm gratitude upon her, Rhoda
Gray followed the ex-convict. They made their way through the fence.
A long, low building, a storage shed evidently, showed a few yards in
front of them. It seemed to be quite close to the river, for now she
could see the reflection of lights from here and there playing on the
black, mirror-like surface of the water. Farther on, over beyond the
shed, the yard of the plant, dotted with other buildings and those
spidery iron structures which she had previously noticed, stretched away
until it was lost in the darkness. Here, however, within the radius of
one of the street arc lamps it was quite light.

Rhoda Gray had paused in almost hopeless indecision as to how or where
to begin her search, when the Sparrow spoke again.

"It looks like we got a long hunt," whispered the Sparrow; "but a few
minutes before you came, a guy with a lantern comes from over across the
yard there and nosed around that shed, and acted kind of queer, and I
could see him stick his head up against them side doors there as
though he was listenin' for something inside. Does that wise you up to
anything?"

"Yes!" she breathed tensely. "That was the watchman. He's one of them.
The man we want is in that shed beyond a doubt. Hurry, Marty--hurry!"

They ran together now, and reached the double side-door. It was
evidently for freight purposes only, and probably barred on the inside,
for they found there was no way of opening it from without.

"There must be an entrance," she said feverishly--and led the way toward
the front of the building in the direction away from the river. "Yes,
here it is!" she exclaimed, as they rounded the end of the shed.

She tried the door. It was locked. She felt in her pocket for her
skeleton keys, for she had not been unprepared for just such an
emergency, but the Sparrow brushed her aside.

"Leave it to me!" he said quickly. "I'll pick that lock like one
o'clock! It won't take me more'n a minute."

Rhoda Gray did not stand and watch him. Minutes were priceless things,
and she could put the minute he asked for to better advantage than by
idling it away. With an added injunction to hurry and that she would be
back in an instant, she was already racing around the opposite side of
the shed. If they were pressed, cornered, by the arrival of Danglar, it
might well mean the difference between life and death to all of them i