“I know the house. It’s the mansion built by Mantell, the senior, in Riverside Drive,” Chick put in. “I will lose no time in following you.”
“I will go with Mantell in his car, leaving Danny to bring you in ours,” said Nick, as both turned from the chamber. “There must be quick work done on this case, or, unless I am much mistaken, both Juan Padillo and his war prize of ancient jewels will go by the board.”
“Quick work, then, is the proper caper,” Chick declared. “I’ll see you a little later.”
Nick did not reply, but hastened out to the car in which Patsy and Frank Mantell were waiting.
“To your residence,” he directed, addressing the latter. “Let her go at top speed, chauffeur. Minutes count.”
CHAPTER IV.
A STARTLING DISCOVERY.
It was nearly noon when the touring car containing Nick Carter and his companions sped up the broad driveway and stopped under the porte-cochère of the magnificent Mantell mansion overlooking the Hudson.
“We shall not find my father at home, Nick,” Mantell remarked, while alighting from the car. “He still is engaged in settling up the affairs of our defunct department store, wrecked by the knavery of his junior partner, that treacherous miscreant, Gaston Goulard. No need to tell you of that rascal, Nick, whom you so quickly pulled up to the ringbolt after taking on the case.”
“No need, indeed,” Nick replied, a bit grimly. “It was deucedly unfortunate, though, that he slipped through the meshes of the legal net and eluded the punishment he deserved.”
“Decidedly so.”