“Hear from you later, eh?  Very good.  Very good, indeed, Mr. Detective Carter!  Hear from you again—­that is precisely what I want!  Early and often, Detective Carter; early and often, if you please!  It is precisely for what the little robbery of this April morning was invented!”

“But was it necessary—­was it really necessary, Rufus?” whispered Garside, who alone had overheard, and whose paler face and tremulous figure betrayed fears which his swarthy senior partner would have scorned to feel.  “This Carter is a most artful and discerning man.  I am so afraid you have barked up the wrong tree.  Was it necessary, really necessary, Rufus?”

Venner turned upon him with a half-smothered snarl of contempt.

“Bah!  You’d be afraid of your own shadow, Garside, if left alone with it,” he sneered, between his white, even teeth.  “Necessary—­of course it was necessary!  Otherwise, I should not have adopted the ruse.  We are about to attempt a big game—­an infernally big game!  When it matures, when it is finally launched, the very first concern that finds itself bitten will rush to Nick Carter for aid.”

“There is no doubt of that, Rufus.”

“Surely no doubt of it!  He is the greatest detective in the country—­and the greatest will be none too clever, nor too expensive, for those who find themselves duped by our unparalleled design.”

“I should say so.”

“What will be the result, Philip?—­what will be the result?” added Venner, with a curious mingling of exultation and asperity.  “If our victims appeal to Nick Carter for help—­are we not also already in his good graces?  Have we not insured his confidence in us by this little move of to-day?  Will he not reveal himself and his suspicions to us, just as I have designed, and keep us posted about his every move, and so forewarned and forearmed?  Of course he will—­to be sure he will!”

“But he is such a crafty and daring—­”

“Bah!  Is he more crafty than Dave Kilgore?” demanded Venner, significantly.  “Is he more daring than Spotty Dalton, or more determined than anyone of the Kilgore gang?  Not by a long chalk, Philip, and I know of them of whom I speak.  Ay, as much and more of them than does Detective Nick Carter.”

“Perhaps you are right, Rufus,” murmured Garside, nodding.  “We certainly are about launching a tremendous, an utterly unparalleled, swindle.  The like of it was never, never known.  There should be millions in it.  Yes, yes, Rufus, you are right.  It was wise to preface our gigantic operations by getting well in touch with Nick Carter.”

“To be sure, it was wise, Philip, or I should not have taken the trouble to do so,” said Venner, with much less acrimony.  “So be a man always, Philip, and never a flunky.  You have played your part admirably this morning.  Let it be played as well, Philip, even to the finish—­even to the last ditch!”

Philip Garside’s color had returned, and he smiled confidently and nodded in approval.