CHAPTER XXXIII.

STILL HUNTING.

“Of course, Thomas Jarvis never was a real factor in this matter,” remarked Nick, fifteen minutes later, when all that was mortal of Jarvis had been removed to another room. “But we will go into the claims of that young man who has been sitting silently at the other side of the table from the beginning of the conference, and who——”

The detective broke off. The chair occupied by the man who had been declared by Louden Powers and Andrew Lampton to be Howard Milmarsh was empty, and he was not in the room!

Patsy and Chick had both helped remove the body of Thomas Jarvis, and no one had taken any notice of the young man. He had been sitting there when everybody else went out, watching the disposal of the still form on a large sofa in the library.

They were just returning, with Nick Carter in the lead, and speaking as he came, when he saw that the alleged Howard Milmarsh had disappeared.

There was a search all about the house and grounds which lasted for an hour or more. At the end of that time, when not a trace of the missing man could be found, Carter decided that there was nothing more to be done there, and he told Chick and Patsy privately that he was going back to New York.

Louden Powers and Andrew Lampton had both taken an active part in the hunt. They were loud in their protestations that he was the real heir, and that somebody must have spirited him away in the interests of enemies.

“What do you mean by enemies?” asked the detective quietly, when the whole party were again assembled in the dining room. “Do you mean that persons who believe him to be actually Howard Milmarsh have hidden him so that they can bring a spurious one in to take possession?”

“You guess well,” grinned Louden Powers.

“Mind I don’t guess a little too well for your peace of mind, Powers,” was Nick’s rejoinder. “This estate has not been settled yet. Besides, those people waiting at the station for Billings might come up here again and hold you personally responsible for the fraud of Paradise City. They count you partly in the swindle, as you know.”

Powers sniffed scornfully, and lighted a cigarette, to show how much at his ease he was. Andrew Lampton was discreetly silent. He had not the bravado of his companion.

“The crowd has gone back,” announced Patsy, who had been at the telephone. “They got tired of waiting for Bonesy, and they took that train which went out an hour ago. It’s lucky for these two guys that they didn’t come back. The station agent tells me they was as hot as fresh tamales. If it hadn’t been a three-mile walk, some of ’em was coming back to lick the pair of ’em, just for luck.”

“It is just as well,” put in Nick. “Come over here, Billings. I want to talk to you.”

The result of a minute or two of private converse between the detective and Billings was that the big truckman smiled grimly and stood by the door of the dining room, to indicate that he was ready to obey orders at once.

“You see, Chick,” explained Carter to his principal assistant, “I want you to come back with me to New York, and it would be asking too much of Patsy to guard those two men alone.”

“He could do it, all right,” returned Chick. “I don’t think they would get away if Patsy wanted to hold them. Besides, there are menservants in the house.”

“I don’t depend on servants, Chick—especially when they are new and have no personal interest in the place in which they are employed. You remember we heard two of them talking about their situation when they did not suspect that they were overheard?”

“When we were behind that big picture?”

“Yes. So I’ve engaged Billings to stay here and act as a sort of sergeant at arms while we are away. He and Patsy together will insure Louden Powers and Andrew Lampton being here when we return.”

“What are we going to do about Howard Milmarsh?” broke in Louden Powers, who had been wondering what the detective was talking about, but could not very well inquire. “I think I’d better go down to New York and look around.”

“Where would you look?”

“In places where he generally hangs out. There’s a lot of joints where you could find him ’most any time, and I——”

“I never knew Howard Milmarsh to hang about in New York,” interrupted Carter. “I think you have somebody else in mind.”

“Who?” demanded Powers defiantly.

“T. Burton Potter, for instance.”

“I’m talking about Howard Milmarsh.”

“Well, we will let you remain in the house here, while I look for Howard Milmarsh. I’m quite as anxious as you are to find him,” was the detective’s reply. “Come on, Chick!”

“You want Andrew Lampton and me to stay here?” asked Powers, with a suspicious inflection. “That’s something different from what you’ve been giving us. You were handing it to us that we had no business in this house.”

“You have business in it now, Louden, because I believe you may help to solve the problem of the missing heir. Captain Brown, you will take us down to the station, won’t you? My car has gone back to New York.”

“I’ll take you down with pleasure,” was the prompt response of the manager of the Old Pike Inn.

Captain Brown was so relieved to know that he would not be called on as a witness to prove that Thomas Jarvis killed his son, that he was willing to do anything for anybody.

“I’ll go with you if you like,” volunteered Lampton. “Even if I can’t find Howard Milmarsh, I might get my hands on T. Burton Potter. You remember you wanted me to find him.”

“I did want you to do that,” admitted Nick. “But not now. Even if I don’t, it won’t make much difference as things have turned out. You remain here with Louden Powers. Billings, you know what to do. You too, Patsy!”

Nick Carter and Chick swung out of the dining room, with Captain Brown. No sooner were they outside than the door closed, and they heard a key click in the lock.

“Patsy and Billings are not taking any chances,” observed Chick, smiling.

“That is the only way to deal with men of that stripe, Chick. Captain, if we hurry, we can make that two train for New York.”

They just made the train, and, as Nick and his assistant sat silently side by side, while the train rushed toward the metropolis, each was occupied with his own thoughts.

“Where shall we go first?” asked Chick, as they left the train at the Grand Central and walked through the lofty concourse to Forty-second Street. “Home, I suppose?”

“Yes. We’ll go there and see what mail there is, and if anything special calls for attention. Then we’ll visit the Universal Hospital.”

“What do you suppose has become of that fellow who vanished from the house up there this morning—the man who called himself Howard Milmarsh?”

“That I don’t know. And I don’t much care, at present. But I should like to correct you in one little particular, Chick. It is Louden Powers and Andrew Lampton who have been calling him Howard Milmarsh. You did not hear him say much about it.”

“That’s true,” assented Chick reflectively. “Here’s a taxi. I called him up just now.”

“There’s an old man and a young lady waiting for you in the library, sir,” said the butler, as they went into Nick’s quiet house. “I told them I didn’t know when you would be back, but they said they would wait half an hour, anyhow. Perhaps by that time you might be home. They’ve been in the library an hour already. I was up there ten minutes ago.”

“They must want to see me rather badly,” was the chief’s comment, as he ran lightly up the stairs. “Did they give you their names?”

“No, sir. They said they would tell you when they saw you?”

“Very well!”

Nick opened the door of his library. As he stepped inside, he knew who his visitors were.

“Why, it’s the young lady who was in the fire that night,” he exclaimed, in a tone of warm welcome. “Miss Silvius, isn’t it?”

“Yes. And this is my father. If it hadn’t been for you, we couldn’t be here now. We wanted to see you so much, Mr. Carter. I didn’t know till to-day who it was that got us out of that fearful fire. I have not seen Mr. Gordon—I mean Mr. Milmarsh since.”

The detective shook hands with Bessie Silvius and her father, and then introduced Chick, who thought the girl wonderfully pretty, and showed it in his face.

“I—I—wanted to thank you for what you did, Mr. Carter,” faltered the girl. “And also—to ask if you knew where Mr. Milmarsh is.”

“I _know_ where he is,” replied Nick gravely.