He would leave what he would call a trail, where any person following in search of him might find it.
Nick had read the man so, and now he looked for such a sign.
He discovered it, too, presently, on one of the bottles of Burgundy in a case that had been opened a long time, and which stood at the top of a pile close to the chair upon which Lynne had doubtless been seated when the effects of the chloroform had worn off.
Dust had collected upon one of the bottles of wine from which the tissue paper had been torn, and upon that collected dust, faintly traced, as if with one of the burnt matches that Red Mike had used and thrown aside, in lighting his cigarettes, were written words.
They were faint, and almost undecipherable at first; there was every indication, too, that they had been written by jerks, and at intervals, sometimes only half of a letter having been formed at a time.
This, of course, had been done to escape observation.
But Nick Carter brought forth his magnifying glass and bent to the task; and after an interval of patient effort he was able to read the message. Here it is:
“Bbngtn woman & Mike scret entrance. Chloroform. Plot to get money. Taking me place they call Pleasantglades deserted. Mike brings warning. More chlor.� And then the last three characters were scrawled, as if hastily made: “6.30.�
The detective read it aloud to Patsy, and he added:
“If we read between the lines, and also between the words, we get this: ‘Babbington woman and Red Mike entered my room upstairs by means of the secret entrance. They chloroformed me and brought me here to this wine cellar. It is all a plot to extort money from me by some means which they consider adequate. I have listened to their talk until I am of the opinion that they are taking me to a place which they call Pleasantglades, which I understand them to say is now deserted, and will be therefore safe for hiding. Red Mike has suddenly appeared from his post on watch upstairs and brings a warning that they are pursued. A hasty departure is decided upon, and they intend to chloroform me again into unconsciousness. The time is now half-past six o’clock.’ If he could have written it all out, that is what he would have said,� the detective concluded; and he looked at his watch.