"Yes, later than that if he shuts up at the usual late hour, but perhaps he'll start home earlier."
"I shouldn't wonder," remarked Henderson, "if this should work on his nerves through the evening and cause him to try to skip the town."
"We shan't lose him," returned Rowe, in a satisfied tone, "and the only thing we've got to do now is to kill time until the hour comes for business. Let's play billiards."
Accordingly they went to a billiard hall and knocked the balls around until they were tired of walking about the tables. For the others interested, as well as those, the time passed slowly.
A number of students, including Merriwell, who were to take part in this affair, assembled at the society rooms about the middle of the evening, thinking that possibly Miller might take fright and shut up his shop earlier, but the hours passed and Miller still stuck to his counter.
Hodge and Rattleton, who, now that it was dark, stood nearer to the cigar store, could see that Miller was growing nervous as the time passed.
He paced restlessly up and down back of his counter and occasionally shifted the position of boxes and did other things to indicate that he was suffering from extreme anxiety.
When customers came in he greeted them gruffly and had little to say, whereas his usual custom was to talk freely.
After eleven o'clock, when the store happened to be free from customers for a moment, the boys saw him empty his cash drawer into his pockets and also take what money there was in his safe and stow that in his clothes, too.
From that time on he put whatever money came in into his pockets instead of into the drawer. They judged from this that he had made up his mind that he must leave town, and that he was taking all the money that he could lay his hands on with him.