“I do. This is not the first time I’ve looked it over. I should have made an investigation here soon, even if there had been no Prince Marcos case.” Patsy Garvan would have liked to ask why. But he felt that he had catechized his chief about as much as was safe. So he held back his curiosity and prepared to obey orders. “Row the boat right up to that chute, Patsy.” “All right! But it doesn’t reach down to the water.” “I see that. It does not matter. I can reach the bottom of it when I stand up in the boat.” Watched by the wondering Patsy, Nick Carter waited till the flat-bottomed boat had run directly under the end of the chute. Then he caught the chute and tested its strength as well as he could while standing in the wabbly little craft. The chute was supported by strong iron rods that extended from the wooden wall, keeping it at the proper angle, so that it was easy to slide the blocks of ice upward by means of a block and tackle. As Nick Carter had said, the building was capacious enough to accommodate many tons of ice, and it had been used as a storehouse for a long time. Of later years, when facilities for handling ice were better, and when large corporations controlled the industry, there was no room for this small concern to continue in business. So they had sold out, and the storehouse had been empty for years until within the past few months. So, when a tenant offered himself, the owner of the building--who had almost forgotten that it was in existence--was only too glad to accept a nominal rental. Who the tenant was Nick Carter had found out within the last twenty-four hours, and for that reason when he discovered the cake of mud, with salt grass embedded in it, he had not much doubt that he would be able to find Prince Marcos if he followed this clew. “What are you going to do?” asked Patsy. “That will depend on what I find when I get to the top of the chute. Keep the boat well hidden in the rushes as soon as I am out of it.” Patsy nodded. Then he gave his chief a hoist to help him into the bottom of the chute, and watched admiringly to see Nick Carter making his way up the treacherous runway, partly on the tips of his toes and partly on hands and knees. At the top was a closed door. The fastening was not difficult, and as Patsy backed his boat into a thicket of long grass, he saw Nick Carter open the door and go in. For ten minutes Patsy watched the door, but no one came out, and there was no sound from within. “I’ll wait here a little while. Then I’ll go in after him,” declared Patsy to himself. CHAPTER V. COLD-BLOODED PLOTTING. When Nick Carter entered the building he found himself in a large, half-dark warehouse that had formerly held many tons of ice. A great quantity of moldy sawdust was scattered about, and the thick boards of the flooring were broken in many places.