It was just as Chick came to this conclusion that the taxicab stopped suddenly. At the same moment a large coat or cloak was thrown over his head, and he felt his senses leaving him under the influence of a strong narcotic, whose pungent odor gave him a sensation of horrible nausea.
He remained conscious long enough to realize that he was lifted out of the cab and carried a few yards. Then he heard a door bang, and that was all!
CHAPTER IX.
THROUGH DEVIOUS WAYS.
“See why Chick hasn’t come down, Patsy,” directed Nick Carter, as he and Patsy Garvan faced each other at breakfast the next morning. “He must have been very tired last night to sleep like this now.”
Patsy left the room, but soon returned, with a queer look of dismay on his face.
“He isn’t there,” was his report. “His bed hasn’t been slept in, either.”
“Are you sure of that?” asked Nick sharply.[Pg 31]
“Positive. I met Mrs. Peters on the stairs, and she told me none of the bedrooms have been touched by the maids yet. They never are at this time in the morning. Why, chief, it’s only eight o’clock.”
But Patsy was speaking to emptiness by this time. Nick Carter had run up the stairs two at a time, and examined Chick’s bedchamber for himself. He came down in another minute or two, a heavy frown on his brow.
“Let’s have breakfast, Patsy.”