“Not Nick Carter!” cried Badger, with brows quickly knitting. “None other.” “The devil you say! There may be something back of that.” “Nothing that involves us, I reckon,” declared Vic confidently. “Why do you feel so sure of it?” “Because he was sent to my rooms by the clerk in the hotel where Carter was stopping, and to whom he had mentioned coming to my place. He merely wanted to see him on business, Amos, and couldn’t locate him.” The last was said with much significance and a loud, derisive laugh, in which Amos Badger now joined. “Not locate him, eh?” he cried, with a shrug. “Well, if anybody locates him after to-morrow, Vic, I’ll take a permanent seat in the back row.” As may be inferred, this conversation took place some little time before the interview with Nick himself, as related in a previous chapter. “You’ll take a seat in that stone hotel in Charles Street, you mean, along with all the rest of us,” Vic bluntly rejoined. “You’ll soon be there!” thought Patsy, who was listening intently to all that was being said. Not so much as a glance had been bestowed upon the hamper, which externally presented no unusual appearance, and Patsy felt tolerably safe in his concealment. The end was not yet, however. “What have you done with him, Amos?” Claudia now asked, as Badger came down the steps to run the car to cover. “With Carter?” “Yes, of course. We started for town, you know, the moment we had him safely landed here.” “Conley now has charge of him,” said Badger. “Where?” “In the old wine-vault.” “Are you going to confine him there?” “Yes, till I do worse to him.” “Has he come to himself?” “Not yet,” Badger promptly replied. “Those were three ugly blows that Vic gave him.” “I was taking no chances by falling short of my duty,” put in Vic, with a cruel laugh. “They’d have killed him for sure, Vic, if his head were not as tough and hard as a darky’s.” “He would then have been out of our way, at all events.” “Conley will soon have him revived, I think, and then we will have a talk with him, and force him to confess what is being done against us,” added Badger, approaching the automobile. “I’ll stow the machine while you two go in and eat your dinner. It’s already on the table.” “Had yours?” “Yes.” “Send Jerry in here to tell us when his patient revives,” called Vic Clayton, as she mounted the steps. “I want to go out there and have a look at him.” “All right,” growled Badger, as he sprang into the car. Then the two women entered the house. In another moment the car started again with a whir and rumble, and Patsy mentally sized up the situation as he saw it. “We have hit the nail on the head, all right,” he said to himself. “These crooks are all that we have suspected, and they have Nick imprisoned out here, after knocking him on the head. They shall be paid with interest for the blows given him, however, as surely as the sun sets in the west.