"You seem to have figured the thing out pretty carefully, Carter."
"I have. I had to do so, if I wished to be successful. I have promised the President that I would deliver Mustushimi to him in person, and I want to do it to-morrow morning."
"Suppose that the chief himself does not enter the house? Suppose he leaves that part of the work for his followers to do."
"In that case we will have to force those we do catch to tell us where to find their chief-and with the aid of the electricity it can be done. There is nothing in the world of which an ordinary man stands in such deadly fear as of electricity; and in the case of fellows like these, who know very little about it, they will think that they are going to be electrocuted offhand."
"It will be funny, I have no doubt."
"Funny! You wait!"
"Put I don't see yet just how you are going to catch them. When you shock one, the others will turn and run."
"Not a bit of it. They won't have a chance to do that."
"Why not?"
"Because I shall not deliver the shock until they are all pretty nearly where I want to get them, and whoever has his hand on one of those strips of metal will keep it there; you can bet your life on that."
"You mean that they won't be able to let go?"
"Yes."
"Hark!" exclaimed the senator. "What was that?"
It is Chick returning from the other house. Wait here and keep a watch on the windows, and I will go and meet him."
"What shall I do if I see that an attack is about to be made?"
"Just call out to me, that is all."
The detective descended to the basement then, and met Chick, who was returning from the other house.
"Well?" he asked of him.
"There are seven of them outside the other house," explained Chick. "Gordon thinks that they have somehow tumbled to the idea that we are using both of the houses, and it is his idea that they mean to attack them both at the same time."
"It is my idea, also. It has been so all the time. Mustushimi is far too smart to be taken in by appearances."
"Then how shall we divide our forces?"
"You will remain there with Gordon. I will keep the senator here with me."
"Do you think you can depend upon him if it comes to a fight-if the wires should fail to work, or anything like that?"
"Yes, I do. He is all wool and a yard wide, that man, and he isn't afraid of anything."
"I like him, Nick."
"So do I. Now, get back with Gordon, and remember to wait until you have nearly all of them, if they do get inside, before you turn on the current. Will you be careful?"
"You bet I will."
"We ought to gather in quite a bunch of them before the night is over, Chick."
"And we will, too. The only thing I'm afraid of is that Mustushimi himself will not get caught. According to all that you have told me, he is a crafty scoundrel, and he may hang back."
"I don't think there is any doubt of it. But if he does, we will follow him, no matter where he goes. I've got to take him to the White House in the morning."
"You didn't promise as soon as that, did you?"
"No; but I want to do it, just the same."
"By the way, Nick, there is a supply of ropes and things to tie them with after they are caught. I put the whole outfit in the front room where the switchboard is located."
"All right. Have you got another supply in the other house?"
"Sure thing."
"All right again. Go back there now."
When the detective returned to the senator, he found the statesman looking through his peep-hole at the window, evidently in some excitement, and he approached and laid his hand upon the senator's shoulder.
"What do you see?" he asked.
"They are coming, Carter."
"I thought it was almost time they made a move."
"They have got a lot of wood, or a beam, or something very like one. I think they are going to use it to smash down the door."
"Without doubt."
"Won't the people in the other houses on the street raise a row, Nick?"
"They will probably all telephone to the police that a terrible riot is going on here, but by the time Major Sylvester thinks it wise to get here all the affair that we are particular about will be over and done with."
"One would suppose, Carter, that you knew beforehand exactly what these fellows would do."
"I do, almost. Given an idea, and a number of men to carry it out, and you can usually figure rather closely what they will do; and, as in a case of this kind, you can lead them to do almost what you wish them to do, if you are accustomed to handling such men."
"It is perfectly amazing to me, Carter."
"I suppose so. Let me get to that window a moment. Where are the men with the battering-ram now?"
"Just at the bottom of the steps. They will be at the door in another moment."
Nick stepped forward, and threw open the window; but as he did so he stepped quickly back again, out of sight, thinking that perhaps a shot might be fired at him.
But none was; and after a second he called out, still keeping his person screened:
"What are you men doing there?"
The men who carried the improvised battering-ram paused for an instant, and then from beyond them a voice replied:
"We wish to speak to Nick Carter."
Nick, who recognized the voice of Mustushimi, replied instantly:
"I am he. What do you want?"
"I am the Baron Mustushimi, and-"
"I knew that, baron. Go on."
"You have one of my men in that house, and I want him at once. Will you deliver him over to me yourself great trouble?"
"I have no such man here as you describe."
"That is not true."
"Well, anyhow, I will not deliver such a man to you."
"Then take the consequences. Forward, men! Smash in the door!"
CHAPTER VIII.
NICK CARTER WORKS THE SWITCHBOARD.
It seems an incredible tale that such a thing as that one described could happen within the city of Washington, but often the very boldness of a lawless proceeding is its principal safeguard, and that seemed to be the rule in this case.
Of course, we must understand that Mustushimi had placed his scouts out, to warn him of the possible approach of the police, and naturally he had investigated to discover if any were in the immediate neighborhood before he made the concerted attack.
But, even then, the thing could not have occurred without police interference had not Nick Carter in a measure prepared for it, as has been already outlined.
It may seem strange to the reader that he should voluntarily cut off from himself all chance of police assistance until after a certain hour; but Nick had plotted to capture as many of the members of the spy system as possible, and he realized that his only means of success existed in the possibility of inducing them to enter one the houses that he had prepared for their reception.
The real genius of his plan existed in the foresight he had used in calculating so exactly, as he had, that he could entice them there to make the attack; but we must remember that Nick Carter had passed all his life in the study of just such characters as he was pitted against now, and, like the hunter who stalks the deer, or the lesser one who seeks the hare, he knew just what courses they would take under given conditions.
He knew now, as be peered through the window toward them, that the crucial moment had arrived; that the attack was already upon him, and that now he had to depend upon the correctness with which his instructions had been carried out, for the success of his plan.
"Come!" he called to the senator; and he sprang back from the window, and led the way up the stairs to the second floor of the house, where, as we know, the switchboard of the electric apparatus had been installed.