the blow received from Rufus Venner, and he fell to taking the measure
of his situation the moment the cobwebs began to clear from his brain.

He found himself bound hand and foot with ropes, and lying upon the
floor of a dark room. That he was in the dwelling occupied by the
Spanish dancer, Nick had not a doubt.

As his mind became clearer and his eyes accustomed to the darkness, Nick
discovered a narrow thread of light some yards away and close to the
floor, and presently the sound of lowered voices faintly reached his
ears.

"A light in the next room," he said to himself. "Probably the whole gang
is out there, sizing up my case, and deciding what to do with me. If
they are there, I must get a better look at those two ruffians. I owe
them something for their work of to-night, and I always mean to pay such
debts.

"One of them was called Dave, and it may have been Dave Kilgore himself.
In which case, by Jove! I was right in thinking that this diamond
robbery only masks some deeper and bigger game.

"I wonder if they suspect my identity. If not, what sort of a game have
they been playing here to-night?"

Nick very quickly measured the various possibilities of the unusual
situation.

If the man whose name he had heard was indeed David Kilgore, then Rufus
Venner, as well as Cervera, might be in league with the diamond gang,