“You can’t hide here!” a man shouted.

“Sounds like an argument,” said George.

“You know the police may be watching this place!” the man cried out. “You’re not going to get me into trouble! Clear out!”

“I have a hunch the pickpocket is hiding in there,” Nancy whispered.

The argument grew hotter, but suddenly the window was slammed down and the girls could hear no more.

At once Nancy turned to her friends. “George, you and Bess get a policeman! I’ll go into the apartment house and see what I can find out.”

“Please be careful,” Bess warned her friend.

The instant the girls had gone, Nancy entered the building. The outer lobby was deserted. Finding the inner door unlocked, she went into the hallway.

“I wonder which apartment the men are in,” she mused, tiptoeing down the hallway.

Suddenly a door a little distance away from her opened. A man rushed out, slamming it behind him.

He resembled the pickpocket!

Nancy wanted a closer look at him and gazed about for a place to observe him unnoticed. Near her was a telephone booth. She darted inside.

“If he is the pickpocket, I’ll follow him!” she decided.

Unfortunately the man spotted Nancy and recognized her. Angrily he ran toward her.

“This is the pickpocket,” she concluded. “He saw me and knows I heard what was said!”

Fearful that the man meant to harm her, Nancy slammed shut the glass-paneled door of the booth. To her consternation he took a piece of wood from his pocket and wedged it under the crack.

“There! How do you like that?” the pickpocket sneered. He dashed back to the room, opened the door, and shouted a warning to someone inside. Then he ran from the building.

Meanwhile, Nancy pushed with all her strength against the door, but it would not move. The wedge held fast. She was trapped!

Instinctively she searched her purse for a coin to deposit in the telephone and get help, but had none. Thoroughly alarmed, Nancy pounded on the door, but her cries went unheard.