CHAPTER XIX.
PATSY ON THE TRAIL.
“Good work is right. It sure will be some stunt to find that particular car, as the chief said, but there’s more than one way to kill a cat. I’ll find it, by gracious, or lose a leg.”
These were Patsy Garvan’s mental declarations when he left the Wilton House at nine o’clock that morning, not only determined to find the motor car he had seen the previous night, but also to identify its chauffeur and his two passengers.
“I’ll go the whole hog,” he added to himself. “If I discover the chauffeur, I’ll not quit till I have learned who was with him. I’ll make good the limit, if I make good at all.”
His first visit proved futile, and he then consulted a directory and noted the location of every public garage. He then proceeded from one to another as quickly as possible, searching each in the same way, but with the same negative result.
In only one was he questioned by the proprietor, but Patsy was ready for him, and politely explained.
“I am thinking of buying a car next month, sir, and am merely having a look at these. I hope you have no objection.”
“Certainly not in that case,” was the reply. “Go as far as you like.”
“I’ll go far and go some, I reckon, before I hook onto the right one,” thought Patsy, who then had been thus at work for several hours, stopping only for lunch in a convenient restaurant. “The car might be out, of course, even if I were to hit the right garage, providing it is kept in a public one. I’ve got to take the chance. I’ll stick, too, by ginger, till I find it.”