“Oh!”
The Unknown had turned swiftly and disappeared into the passage. “Come on!” cried Helen. “Let’s see where he goes to.”
Ruth was nothing loath. Although she would not have told anybody of their discovery, she was very curious. If the disguised boy had left his first disguise in stateroom forty-eight, he had doubly misled his pursuers, for he was still in women’s clothing.
“Oh, dear me!” whispered Helen, as the two girls crowded into the doorway, each eager to be first. “I feel just like a regular detective.”
“How do you know how a regular detective feels?” demanded Ruth, giggling. “Those detectives who came aboard just now did not look as though they felt very comfortable. And one of them chewed tobacco!”
“Horrors!” cried Helen. “Then I feel like the detective of fiction. I am sure he never chews tobacco.”
“There! there she is!” breathed Ruth, stopping at the exit of the passage where they could see a good portion of the saloon.
“Come on! we mustn’t lose sight of her,” said Helen, with determination.
The awkward figure of the supposedly disguised boy was marching up the saloon and the girls almost ran to catch up with it.
“Do you suppose he will dare go to room forty-eight again?” whispered Ruth.