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190 We gazed in the direction he pointed, and saw four men huddled together in a corner of a rambling business building, not half a block away from the offices of Raymond, Holbrook & Smith. They were talking earnestly. Each wore a light, night cloak over his shoulders, and as one of them, raised this covering, we caught the gleam of a dagger handle sticking from his breast.

"By Jove! they are up to something; that's as sure as you are born!" ejaculated Dan.

"They be Spanish assassins!" muttered Matt Gory. "Sure an' they look loik thim villains we used to see in the ould picture books!

"See, they are moving over this way," I said, a second later. "We must get out of sight, or we'll be discovered, and they may hand us over to the guard."

I looked around, and saw a narrow opening between two business buildings. Into this we crowded, behind a pile of half-broken hogsheads and other rubbish. Hardly had we settled ourselves than the four evil-looking fellows took another stand not ten feet away from us.

An animated conversation ensued, of which I understood only a few words. But Dan caught the drift of the talk, and grabbed my arm so tightly that I knew at once that something out