him half dazed
for the moment.

And then Nick, knowing that Patsy could hold him, turned about and
closed the rock door of the retreat; and before Handsome had recovered
his senses sufficiently to offer any resistance, the two detectives had
bound him so securely that he could not move.

"Take his feet," ordered Nick, then. "We will carry him back into that
chamber, to keep Madge company."

While they were doing that, Handsome managed to recover his powers of
speech--for, now that the rock door was closed, Nick did not think it
necessary to gag the man--and his powers of speech in this particular
instance were something frightful to listen to.

He was still swearing when they dropped him, none too gently, upon the
floor of the cavern not far from Madge; and then Patsy lighted two
bracket lamps with which the place was provided, while Nick smilingly
removed the gag from Madge's mouth.

And where Handsome had worn out his vocabulary of curses, Madge took it
up, and completed it in masterly style, and there was really nothing for
either of the detectives to say for a long time. But her breath was gone
after a while, and she lapsed into sullen silence, closing her remarks
with the request:

"At least give me something to drink out of that bottle that Handsome
went after."

Nick could really do nothing less, and he complied; and the liquor
seemed to restore some of her accustomed coolness, for she looked at
Nick with an ugly gleam in her black eyes, and said:

"You are Nick Carter again, aren't you?"

"Again?" replied Nick, laughing. "I was always Nick Carter. I was so
interested in that last interview I had with you, Madge, that I couldn't
stay away; and now, when you condemned my assistant to death, you
hastened the reckoning. That is all."

"I'll condemn you to death yet--and watch you die, too!" was her
retort.

CHAPTER XVI.

NICK MAKES BAD MEDICINE.

Handsome had also recovered from his paroxysm of rage by this time, for
he was one who had the gift of knowing when he was beaten, and the logic
to accept a situation when he knew that it could not be avoided.

"I reckon you've got the drop on us, Carter," he said. "You've played
the game mighty well, too. There is one thing about it that I would like
to know, though, if you will tell me. Will you?"

"What is it?" asked the detective.

"I want to know if you have been old Bill Turner from the beginning. I
want to know if it was you whose acqua