They were so busy talking over all the details of the queer case that they arrived at the hospital much quicker than they anticipated.

“Here we are,” said Larry, as he led the way up the broad stone steps of the institution.

“I’m almost afraid to go in,” remarked Grace, her voice showing a nervous dread.  “It seems so strange.  I’m quite frightened, Larry.”

“Don’t think of anything but that you’re going to see your father,” the reporter replied, reassuringly.  “He’ll be so glad to see you.  I believe he would have been home long before this if it had not been for the accident.”

Larry entered the office of the institution.  No sooner had he stepped inside than he was made aware that something unusual had occurred.  Nurses and doctors, with anxious looks, were hastening here and there.  Orderlies and messengers were hurrying to and fro, and there was a continuous ringing of signal and telephone bells.

“Must have been an accident and a lot of patients bought in,” said Larry, for he had seen such activity in hospitals before when a number of injured persons required treatment at once.

“Oh, how terrible!” exclaimed Grace.  “Do you suppose many are killed?”

“I hope not.  But it looks as if something very unusual had happened.”

Just then Larry saw the nurse who had been at the bedside of the patient whom he and Grace had come to see.

“I’ve brought his daughter,” he said to the uniformed attendant.  “May we go up now?”

The nurse seemed confused.

“I don’t know—­I’ll see!” she remarked.  “Here is the superintendent.  Perhaps you had better speak to him,” and she whispered something to the official.

“There’s something wrong about Mr. Potter!” was Larry’s first thought.  “I wonder if he could have suddenly died?”

Even Grace, unaccustomed as she was to hospital scenes, was aware that all was not as it should be.

“Oh, Larry!” she exclaimed.  “What is the matter?  Have they taken him away?”

“I don’t know,” the reporter answered in a low tone.  “I’ll soon find out.”

The superintendent approached them.

“You wanted to see that patient who was brought in from the steamship pier?” he inquired.  “We’ve never been able to obtain his name.”

“I can tell you what it is,” answered Larry.  “We have every reason to believe he is Hamden Potter, the missing millionaire, and this young lady’s father.  May we see him?”

“Hamden Potter!” exclaimed the superintendent.

“That’s who he is,” declared Larry.  “He went by the name Mah Retto while he was away.  May we go up now?”

“I am sorry,” said the superintendent slowly, “but that patient escaped from the ward about half an hour ago, and we have not been able to trace him!”

“Escaped!” cried Larry.

“My father gone again!” gasped Grace.

“Too bad, but that’s what has happened,” the superintendent repeated.  “The nurse left him sleeping quietly, and went downstairs to get some medicine.  When she came back he was gone.”