ter the shindy, and again, as they were to follow
him he knew he could get on to them when the time came. It was to be a
game of hide-and-seek, and he felt assured that with the brave and
magical Cad Metti he could give them points on a double shadow. He stole
down the stairs, gained the street, and as he walked away he was joined
by Cad, and he said:

"Well, sis, you appeared at the right moment."

"Yes, Oscar, I feared they had some desperate game to pay. I knew your
rashness. I fell to your track and when you entered that house I sought
out some of our friends and had them at hand to drag you out of a bad
scrape."

"Sis, I was in a pretty bad scrape, and you appeared on deck at exactly
the right moment."

"That is what I intended to do, but what was their purpose?"

"Cad, to tell the truth, I don't know."

"How did they get on to you?"

"They caught me peeping on the fellow Wadleigh. There is where they
played it nice on me."

"What have you learned?"

"I have only picked up some leaders. We have a tangled skein to unravel,
and we have got to do some pretty smart work. Those men are good ones;
we are guarded at every point, and yet we have made a big stride toward
a grand close-in some day, but our chance may come in some months from
now."

"What lead have we?"

"I have the names of some of the king-pins. I have their identity; I
know the name of the great master of this lodge of criminals. I will
have his identity, and then our work will begin. They will shadow us;
they have my identity. They are good shadowers, and as they said I
worked in the light last time they may work in the light next time, but
if they do, Cad, it will be when our lights are smashed."

Cad and Oscar proceeded to their several homes; both had worked hard,
they needed rest, and it was late on the following day when they met.
Before parting from Cad our hero had given her some specific orders, and
when the two met they were prepared in case of an emergency to work some
wonderful changes. They were prepared, as intimated, to do some magic
trick detective work of the first order. Oscar had had a chance to think
matters over and lay out his campaign, and when he parted from Cad he
went to meet Wise, the great government special. He found his man at a
hotel where he was masquerading in the role of a merchant from St.
Louis, and he also knew well how to play any role he started out to
assume.

"Well, Oscar," said Wise, "I've been ex