He arrived at the head of the stairs just as Lombard turned to the left in the great basement room.
Nick darted down after him, and again fortune favored him. He reached the entrance to the room, which was always partly filled with unopened packages of divers descriptions, just in time to see Lombard glide stealthily back of a high pile of cases about two feet from one of the walls.
Nick saw an empty case about ten feet to the right of the door. He crouched behind it and waited.
Less than two minutes had passed when Lombard returned—without the bundle.
He quickly reached the stairway and hurried up to the business part of the store.
Nick Carter’s eyes had a sharper gleam when he crept from his concealment. He at once gave his attention to the narrow passage in which Lombard must have left the bundle.
One side was formed by the high pile of cases.
On the other was a sheathed wall.
Nick examined the cases in rapid succession, and he soon found that none of them could be opened. Obviously, none could be a hiding place for the bundle.
Nick then began a careful inspection of the wall, sounding it foot by foot by tapping it with his knuckles. He suspected, of course, that there might be a secret panel with an open space behind it.