r known. There should be millions in it. Yes,
yes, Rufus, you are right. It was wise to preface our gigantic
operations by getting well in touch with Nick Carter."

"To be sure, it was wise, Philip, or I should not have taken the trouble
to do so," said Venner, with much less acrimony. "So be a man always,
Philip, and never a flunky. You have played your part admirably this
morning. Let it be played as well, Philip, even to the finish--even to
the last ditch!"

Philip Garside's color had returned, and he smiled confidently and
nodded in approval.

Plainly enough, this hushed yet emphatic intercourse between these two
indicated one fact--that Detective Nick Carter was up against a far
deeper game than he then imagined.

CHAPTER IV.

GETTING DOWN TO WORK.

"Well, Nick, old man, what have you made of it?"

The question came from Chick Carter, in his familiar and cheerful
fashion, several hours after the interview held by the two detectives
with Rufus Venner and his partner in their Fifth Avenue store.

It was now about six o'clock in the evening, and Chick had just returned
from having a confidential talk with one of the stage hands of the
theater in which the then famous attraction, the mammoth European and
American vaudeville troupe, of which Senora Cervera was a star
attraction, had for several months been playing to crowded houses.

Chick found Nick seated at the table in his library, with a powerful
magnifying glass in his hand, while the table was strewn with the papers
he that morning had brought from the office of Venner & Co.

Nick looked up with a laugh, and knocked the ashes from his cigar.

"Well, there's no doubt about it, Chick," he replied. "We are finally up
against them."

"The Kilgore diamond gang?"

"Precisely."

"I'm glad of it, Nick, as you remarked this morning."

"Well, I've not changed my mind since then. So am I."

"We shall now find out whether they are as crafty and desperate as they
have been painted."

"I guess there is no doubt about it, Chick."

"Well, if we fail to throw them down, Nick, my money shall go on Kilgore
from that moment," declared Chick, with a grin. "What have you dug out
of that mess of papers, Nick? Have you arrived at any conclusions?"

"Rather!" smiled Nick, significantly. "Did you ever know me to study for
five hours over anything of this kind without arriving at some
conclusion?"

"Never!" laughed Chick. "And the best of it is, Nick, your