With this end in view, Kilgore tore like a madman through the blinding rain of that tempestuous night, and shaped his course back to the diamond plant.

CHAPTER XXI.

An only resource.

Despite the corner in which he had placed himself, a situation far more desperate than he at first imagined, Nick Carter was congratulating himself upon the success of his ruse by which he had so quickly located the secret plant of the diamond swindlers, even at the sacrifice of his personal freedom.

The fact that he now sat bound in a chair in the hidden stronghold of the gang, watched only by Cervera, did not seriously disturb the fearless detective.

Nick had been in many a worse corner than this, or in corners believed to be worse, and he felt confident of pulling out of the scrape with a whole skin, and with most of the gang in custody.

He had surveyed his surroundings with more than cursory interest, therefore, while Kilgore and his confederates were binding his arms to the rounds of the chair back, and his ankles to the legs of the same.

The rough foundation walls of the house, the massive stone wall built across the cellar to mask the secret chamber, the elaborate electric furnace, the huge hydraulic press, the workbench and tools, the powerful arc light pendent from the ceiling—­half an eye would have convinced Nick that he occupied the workroom of that master craftsman whose chemical knowledge and inventive genius had given birth to a most marvelous production, long, earnestly, yet vainly, sought by others—­

The production of an artificial diamond!

Not until Nick heard the stone door forcibly closed, and its iron bolts shot violently into their sockets, did he pay serious attention to Cervera, the venomous Spanish vixen left to guard him.

Then, as she swung round toward him, he took a sharper look at her darkly magnificent face, and was thrilled despite him by the extraordinary changes it had undergone.

It had lost its beauty.  Its olive flush had given place to a chalky whiteness.  The radiance of her eyes had become a merciless glitter, like the glint cast from the eyes of a serpent.  The reflection of a consuming passion for vengeance had transfigured her countenance, till it had become like the face of a fiend.

Though Nick saw at a glance that his situation had taken on an unexpected and desperate phase, he suppressed any betrayal of it.  He met the woman eye to eye, while she briefly paused and faced him, with a cruel smile curling her gray lips.

“So I have you now, Nick Carter,” she cried, with mocking significance.

“Well, yes, in a way,” admitted Nick, coolly.

“I have you in my power,” hissed Cervera, with a vicious display of satisfaction.

“Ah! that’s different,” said Nick.

“How different?”