asm they had left.

"Yes. You're a good fellow. It could not have been better managed."
Then, after a pause too prolonged and thoughtful to please Sweetwater,
who was burning with curiosity if not with some deeper feeling: "What
was that light you burned? A match?"

Sweetwater did not answer. He dared not. How speak of the electric torch
he as a detective carried in his pocket? That would be to give himself
away. He therefore let this question slip by and put in one of his own.

"Are you ready to go back now, sir? Are we all done here?" This with
his ear turned and his eye bent forward; for the adventure they had
interrupted was not at an end, whether their part in it was or not.

Mr. Grey hesitated, his glances following those of Sweetwater.

"Let us wait," said he, in a tone which surprised Sweetwater. "If he is
meditating an escape, I must speak to him before he reaches the launch.
At all hazards," he added after another moment's thought.

"All right, sir--How do you propose--"

His words were interrupted by a shrill whistle from the direction of
the bank. Promptly, and as if awaiting this signal, the two men in the
rowboat before them dipped their oars and pulled for the shore, taking
the direction of the manufactory.

Sweetwater said nothing, but held himself in readiness.

Mr. Grey was equally silent, but the lines of his face seemed to deepen
in the moonlight as the boat, gliding rapidly through the water, passed
them within a dozen boat-lengths and slipped into the opening under the
manufactory building.

"Now row!" he cried. "Make for the launch. We'll intercept them on their
return."

Sweetwater, glowing with anticipation, bent to his work. The boat
beneath them gave a bound and in a few minutes they were far out on the
waters of the bay.

"They're coming!" he whispered eagerly, as he saw Mr. Grey looking
anxiously back. "How much farther shall I go?"

"Just within hailing distance of the launch," was Mr. Grey's reply.

Sweetwater, gaging the distance with a glance, stopped at the proper
point and rested on his oars. But his thoughts did not rest. He realized
that he was about to witness an interview whose importance he easily
recognized. How much of it would he hear? What would be the upshot and
what was his full duty in the case? He knew that this man Wellgood was
wanted by the New York police, but he was possessed with no authority to
arrest him, even if he had the power.

"Something more