“I defy you to prove it,” cried Deever.  “I am willing to let the question of my guilt or innocence rest on that event.  He is not there.”

There was a peculiar light of triumph in Deever’s eyes as he spoke.  It did not escape Nick’s observation.

The shrewd detective saw at a glance that Deever believed his brother to have already escaped.

Could it be possible?  In any event, Nick would not evade the other’s challenge.

He felt that his reputation was at stake, but he did not hesitate.

“If I do not produce him in twenty-four hours,” said Nick, “I will withdraw my charge against you.”

CHAPTER X.

Nick’s reputation at stake.

As Nick made the bold assertion of his power to produce Patrick Deever alive, both Chick and the superintendent looked at him with something as near doubt as anybody who knew Nick Carter could feel in any of his statements.

They both saw that Deever felt sure of his brother’s escape, and they could not help seeing that there was many chances in favor of it.

But Nick was undismayed.  He put his trust in Patsy’s fidelity.

“I shall hold you and Flint under arrest,” said Superintendent Byrnes to Deever.  “Dr. Jarvis, you may go when you wish.”

Nick, Chick and Dr. Jarvis left the room, after the last-named had expressed his thanks to those concerned in his deliverance.

Nick went at once to Nyack.  It was very late when he reached there.

He made his way to the house of Lawrence Deever, which stood some distance from the centre of the town.

There was no sign of Patsy about the place.  The house seemed to be deserted.

Nick easily effected an entrance.  He searched the house thoroughly.

There were signs of the recent presence of Patrick Deever.  He had done some rude cooking.  The remnants of the food which he had prepared were visible.

But the man himself was not to be found.  The method of his exit, however, Nick discovered.

A window in the end of the house, farthest from the street, was wide open, and beneath it, with the aid of his lantern, Nick found the foot-prints of a man who had leaped from the window.

Unquestionably that man was Patrick Deever.

The footprints could be traced a little way.  They led toward a hedge which separated the property from a large, vacant tract south of it.

Nick could see where some person had recently broken through this hedge.  And here he made a more important discovery, which gladdened his eyes.

Beside the hedge were Deever’s foot-prints, and another’s.  The second must be Patsy’s.

Passing through, Nick saw a wide field with a grove at its end.  The foot-prints were very faint, but it seemed that Deever had started in the direction of that grove.