man
who reappears for the first time among his associates after imprisonment
is left alone to make his own advances when he is pleased to do so.

As for the two strangers who accompanied him, their presence did not
concern the others, so long as Curly John vouched for them.

If they thought anything about it at all, they assumed that the burglar
was preparing for another professional trip, and that the two strangers
were interested in his plans. They all regarded it as none of their
affair, and in the underworld it is the rule of life to mind your own
business, and let other people do the same.

As soon as the detective had taken his seat--which he was careful to do
in such a position that he could command a view of the greater part of
the room without perceptibly turning his head--he began, little by
little, and one by one, to study the people who were there.

At first he paid no attention whatever to the men; but, since it was a
fact that more than half of the guests, or patrons, or whatever you
please to call them, were women, and as there were at least sixty
persons present, it was some time before his eyes rested upon the face
that he sought.

But Madge was there without question. She had not thought it necessary
to attempt any disguise of any sort, and her bold, black eyes were
roving restlessly about the room when Nick Carter encountered them.

But his own were so thoroughly shaded by the wide brim of the slouch hat
he wore that he did not believe that she knew he was looking at her.

In this manner he studied her for some time, and discovered that she was
furtively watching Curly John and the two who had come there with him.

It was apparent to the detective that Black Madge had not overcome her
old habit of suspecting everybody; and the mere fact that there were two
strangers present in the room, even though they were accompanied by one
of the old habitues of the place, was to her a warning that they might
not be all right.

It had been Nick's intention to make no demonstration of any kind while
he was inside Grinnel's dive; it was his purpose to go there and observe
all that he could, and then to go away again without having exchanged a
word with any one except Curly, unless it should become absolutely
necessary.

He intended--if he should succeed in finding Madge there--to trust to
luck and his own ingenuity to follow her when she would leave the place,
and so discover where she was living, and by