trouble wiz zem again."

The woman met his evil glance and shuddered.

She saw what murderous thoughts were filling his mind.

CHAPTER VI.

TWO MEN IN A BOX.

On the following morning Paul La Croix went upstairs to the man who made
artificial flowers and said to him:

"Monsieur Reynard, to-day ve go avay to Europe. I 'ave some sings een ze
rooms ve occupy zat I weesh to send to a friend een Sacramento. To do so, I
must 'ave wong beeg packing case. I see an empty wong standing over zere
near ze hatchway. Can I buy him from you?"

"I'll make you a present of the big case, and be glad to get rid of it, as
it takes up valuable space," replied Mr. Reynard, pleasantly. "Come, I'll
help you to get it downstairs to your floor by means of the fall."

He opened the hatchway while La Croix was profusely thanking him, put a
sling around the box and lowered it.

La Croix pulled the box into his front room through a door in the partition
which surrounded the hatchway.

This done and Reynard out of the way, the smuggler turned to his wife,
pointed at the box and asked her, with a grim smile:

"You know what zat ees for, my dear?"

"No. I have no idea. What?"

"To pack ze detectives in."

"What for?"

"So I can ship zem away."

"Won't it kill them?"

"I don't know," he replied, indifferently, shrugging his shoulders.

"Well," she remarked, after a moment's reflection, "it will give us time to
get away to Canada without them knowing our destination."

"_Ma foi!_ Zat ees my object."

He was provided with a hammer and some nails, and taking the lid off the
box, he saw that it was amply big to hold the detectives' bodies.

Some of the joints were shrunk open, he noticed, which would admit air for
the officers to breathe. This would keep them alive some time if they were
not killed some other way in transit.

He did not care much about that, however.

Calling his wife to aid him, he went into the next room where the two bound
and gagged detectives laid upon the floor side by side.

Neither could move or speak.

They were wondering what their fate was to be.

It filled them with chagrin to reflect that this Frenchman had alone
overpowered them without the slightest trouble.

La Croix seized Old King Brady first and dragged him into the next room.

"Now, Lena," he remarked, "help me to leeft him in ze box."

He took the detective by the head and she grasped his ankles and they
quickly dropped their