woman come to her
rescue."

Nell assisted her brother to his feet. He groaned with pain, for it
seemed to him as though every bone in his body was broken.

"I was a fool to run into such a trap," he muttered.

"Can you walk, brother?"

"I can make a desperate try at any rate," uttered the detective,
grimly. Then, assisted by Nell's arm, he hobbled across the floor
toward a narrow stairs that promised them passage to rooms above.

The beard and wig were left in the cellar.

The sound of steps on the floor overhead brought brother and sister to
a sudden halt.

"Hark!"

"Some one is coming," uttered Nell.

"It seems so."

Then the sound of an opening door startled them.

"It's strange that Madge has left everything in such a careless way,"
said a masculine voice. "Ho! Madge, where are you?"

"Hold up thar," uttered another voice. "I reckin the old gal know'd
what she was doin'. Thar's some skulduggery goin' on down here, or my
name ain't Nick Brower. I seed an old bloke come in, and 'twixt me an
you, Professor, it was the man you'n me would give more to see out of
the world than in it."

"You mean Dyke Darrel, the detective?"

"I couldn't mean anybody else."

"Come on, then, let's investigate."

"Extinguish your light, Nell," cried Dyke Darrel, in a thrilling
whisper.

The girl did so at once, but the men above flashed a light into the
basement room, and soon steps were heard descending the stairs. Dyke
felt over his person to discover that Mother Scarlet had been prudent
enough to deprive him of arms.

Nell, white as death, yet with a determined look in her eyes, clinched
her derringer firmly, and with close-shut teeth waited the denouement.

"If we could only get under the stairs," said the detective, in a low
voice.

They made a move to carry out his suggestion, but it was too late.

"Ha!"

This exclamation fell from the lips of the foremost man of three who
were descending the narrow stairs. The outcry was caused at seeing two
forms gliding across the stone floor toward the stairs.

"Quick! Hold up there, or we fire!" cried a sharp voice. Then the
three men rapidly descended to the floor and confronted Nell and the
detective. Three revolvers were leveled, and death literally stared
brother and sister in the face.

"Caught, by the powers," sneered lips above a massive red beard, and
Professor Darlington Ruggles' eyes glittered with intense satisfaction
as they peered into the face of t