The car was stopped and the change made. Larry soon found he could manage the various levers all right, and that the car responded readily to his guiding hand.
"This must be the place," he said, after they had ridden for half an hour at as high speed as
they dared, considering the fact that there were policemen on every other block.
He stopped the car in front of a house that seemed to be uninhabited. It answered the description Retto had given, and Larry knocked on the door. After several minutes the portal opened a crack, showing that it was held by a chain.
"Is Mr. Potter here?" asked Larry, though he knew the missing millionaire was not. The man who had opened the door looked suspiciously at the inquirer. "It's all right," the young reporter went on. "I come from Mr. Retto. I want to aid Mr. Potter."
"You're too late," was the answer. "They've got him into their clutches. They'll work their game before he knows that everything is all right, and that it is safe for him to show himself. If they had only waited half an hour all would have been well. I just got another telephone message from Retto, saying that all matters were satisfactorily adjusted, and that there was no further need for Mr. Potter to hide. But he doesn't know this. I have no way of telling him, and he'll sign the papers before those men will let him go."
"Tell me in which direction they went and I'll go after them!" cried Larry. "They can't have gone far, and we can overtake them in the auto!"
"They have a car, too," replied the man. "A fast one. They managed, by a trick, to get Mr.
Potter into it. If I could only get word to him he could laugh at their efforts! If I could only send him a message!"
"What is the message?" asked Larry.