“No, Patsy. I have been too busy helping Lord Slava. His trouble is about over now, however, and I have a little time to look over my late enemy. Where is it?”
“Still lying over there, where you knocked it,” was Patsy’s reply. “It’s a wonder somebody didn’t drag it away, like they did the poor wretches it killed.”
Nick Carter, Chick, and Patsy all went over to examine the carcass of the Golden Scarab.
“Just what I thought,” muttered Nick, as he knelt by the side of it. “I was pretty certain this was the game?”
“What?” asked Chick.
“I’ll show you.”
The detective took his heavy jackknife from his pocket, and, without ceremony, ripped open the monster with one long slash.
The Golden Scarab was not a real beetle!
Its form was built of fine steel bands and bamboo, and over it was stretched a network of fine-meshed steel. It was a miracle of skill. The steel network made a foundation for heavy scales like those of a fish, made of pure gold.