Deeply as Nick Carter sympathized with the unfortunate acting governor, he could not help glancing, with a slight smile of triumph, at the chief of police.
The detective’s vague suspicion had been verified to a degree by the discovery. He had been certain that the man who had posed as Senator Garnford was an impostor. Here was part proof, at least.
Nick Carter’s ever-useful pocketknife, with its many tools in the handle, came into play again. A pair of wire cutters was included in its equipment, and it did not take long to snip the wires off the unfortunate official.
They soon had Portersham on his feet. Then Patsy and Chick, in obedience to the instructions of Nick Carter, ran him up and down the room a few times, to take the stiffness out of his limbs.
Afterward they sat him in his own easy-chair, and waited for him to compose himself.
“What does it mean?” he asked, in a dazed way, as he passed his tongue over his dry lips. “What could have induced Senator Garnford, of all men, to play such a trick on me?”
“It was Senator Garnford, then?” asked Douglas.
“Yes. I remember that much,” was the reply.
“You are mistaken,” put in Nick Carter.
“No,” insisted Portersham. “I saw him. We were talking, in a friendly way. Then, all at once, he caught me around the neck and put some stuff to my face in a cloth that made me lose my senses. I know it was Senator Garnford. There is no mistake about that.”