“Yes,” said Chester.

Jean likewise nodded affirmatively.

“All right, then.  Are you armed?”

Jean shook his head negatively, and so did Chester, in spite of the fact that he had two automatics concealed in his clothes, for he did not think it wise to betray this to Duval.

From his pockets the Apache chief produced a pair of automatics, one of which he handed to each.  Then he dismissed them with a flourish of his hand.

Jean led the way along the dark passageway and into the street.  Hal, from his place of concealment, saw them emerge and followed them.  A short distance from the den he came up with them.  Jean, as well as Chester, was delighted to see him.

“Why,” said Jean, “can’t we all work together and make sure that the plot does not fail?”

“An excellent idea,” said Chester.

He spoke to Hal in a whisper:  “Watch the house and follow Duval when he comes out.”

Hal, accordingly, did not fall in with Jean’s plan.

“I am glad to be out of it,” he said.  “It’s too dangerous to suit me.  No, Victor, there, is different.  He likes the spice of danger, and so may you.  But I prefer to get my gold easier, in the streets.”

Jean shrugged his shoulders in contempt.

“I thought you were a brave man,” he said.  “Come on, Victor; we have no time for cowards.”

He took Chester by the arm and the two walked off down the street, while Hal again concealed himself in the dark alley opposite the Apaches’ den, where he waited for Duval to emerge.

His patience was soon rewarded.  A dim figure appeared in the doorway and peered cautiously about.  Then it slipped quietly to the street and strode rapidly away in the darkness.  Hal slipped from his concealment and, keeping a respectable distance behind, set out in pursuit.  For several blocks Duval continued slowly; then stopped suddenly at a corner.  Hal immediately slunk from sight into the shelter of a doorway.

Duval raised a hand, and a moment later a taxi dashed up and stopped before him.  Duval climbed in and the taxi moved away.

Hal, however, was not to be shaken off thus easily.  Running forward quickly he succeeded in catching hold of the taxi and pulling himself up behind.  In this way he rode for perhaps half an hour.

Abruptly the machine came to a halt and Hal quickly jumped to the ground and into a doorway, where he peered forth in time to see Duval alight.

The man was now without a mask, and Hal perceived the clear countenance of a Frenchman of the upper class, whose age must have been somewhere in the thirties.  He strode rapidly down the street, and, turning a corner, mounted the steps of a handsome residence just beyond.  Hal came around the corner just in time to see his quarry enter the door.

The lad took the number of the house and also the name of the street.  These he impressed firmly upon his memory by repeating them over and over.  Then he quietly ascended the steps of the house and tried the door.  It was locked.