"
"Maybe he won't come. Maybe he'll get a sniff of danger," said
the secretary.
"He'll come, never fear," McMurdo answered. "He is as eager to
come as you can be to see him. Hark to that!"
They all sat like wax figures, some with their glasses arrested
halfway to their lips. Three loud knocks had sounded at the
door.
"Hush!" McMurdo raised his hand in caution. An exulting glance
went round the circle, and hands were laid upon their weapons.
"Not a sound, for your lives!" McMurdo whispered, as he went from
the room, closing the door carefully behind him.
With strained ears the murderers waited. They counted the steps
of their comrade down the passage. Then they heard him open the
outer door. There were a few words as of greeting. Then they
were aware of a strange step inside and of an unfamiliar voice.
An instant later came the slam of the door and the turning of the
key in the lock. Their prey was safe within the trap. Tiger
Cormac laughed horribly, and Boss McGinty clapped his great hand
across his mouth.
"Be quiet, you fool!" he whispered. "You'll be the undoing of us
yet!"
There was a mutter of conversation from the next room.
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