He had waited for what he considered a long enough time, and then had just been preparing to go up the chute, when he heard the crash as Nick Carter went through the banisters.
“Gee! Something’s broke loose!” exclaimed Patsy then. “Me for the high grass!”
He had dropped back into the boat and shot away into the tangle of rushes.
Nobody had appeared at the front of the building, and he could not see the back. So he kept in hiding for half an hour or so, and then ventured up the chute once more.
This time he crawled to the very top. But the rascals within had investigated to find out how Nick had got in, and when they found the door at the top of the chute a little way open, they had carefully bolted it within.
It required only this bolted door to assure Patsy that some trick had been played on his beloved chief, and he cautiously made his way around the large wooden building.
He noted that there was a strong stone wall foundation, and when he saw that there were three square openings, each secured by heavy boards within, he understood that a large and water-tight cellar was part of the equipment of the warehouse.
When he heard Nick Carter tell him to kick in the boards at one of the windows it was perfectly clear to him what he was to do.
Holding his boat firmly at the boarded window where he had first caught the fumes of ammonia, and which had called forth his ejaculation, he warned Nick by saying cautiously:
“Chief!”