"All right."

Harry rushed out of the room.

Finding the boy down in the office, Harry seized him.

"Where did you put the package that girl gave you?" he roared.

The boy turned pale with fright, and a panic seized him as he suddenly
thought his share in the matter was known.

With bulging eyes and chattering teeth, he gasped:

"For mercy's sake don't arrest me, and I'll tell you, sir."

"Well? Speak out--quick!"

"The young lady told me to give it to her father."

"And you did?"

"Yes, sir."'

"Where was he?"

"In his room."

"Is he there yet?"

"I don't know."

Harry rushed upstairs again.

Pushing open the door of Paul La Croix's room he entered.

None of the man's possessions was disturbed, but Harry caught view of the
note he had written and placed on his bureau.

The boy picked it up and read the following lines:

"Monsieur Brady: By the time you get this letter I will be far
away. You are duped. Do as you please with my innocent wife and
daughter. You can prove nothing against them. An outsider did the
smuggling. That lets us out. I defy you. Do your worst. La Croix."

Young King Brady smiled at the note.

"The raving of a madman!" he muttered scornfully. "If he imagines he has
beaten us, we will soon relieve him of that notion."

He carried the note to Old King Brady and exclaimed:

"La Croix has escaped with the diamonds."

"How did he get them?" asked the old detective, curiously.

"Clara sent them to him by the hall-boy."

"As I feared!"

"We can't convict these women."

"No. Release them."

"Ladies, you are free."

"Thank you," said Clara, with a pleasant smile.

"Go your way. We can't secure anything but revenge by prosecuting you, and
that isn't what we are after. I must say, though, Mrs. La Croix, that was
an inhuman thing for you and your husband to do, boxing us up and shipping
us to California. We are more merciful to you when it lies in our power to
put you in prison."

The woman's face reddened with shame.

She hung her head, but made no reply.

Old King Brady then said to Harry in hurried tones:

"Come. We must get on La Croix's trail. We'll run him down if it takes a
year to do it!"

They rushed from the room.

Harry, however, paused outside the door and listened.

The woman and her daughter uttered a merry peal of laughter.

"Good for papa!" cried the girl. "He'll save the gems yet."

"Those detectives have gone on a wild g