"Well, they are gone, that's certain!"
"Yes, and there is no telling where they went to."
"Must have slipped out by a back way."
"They sure are a slick pair."
It was some time later, and Dave and the other boys stood on the broad piazza of the hotel discussing the situation.
Following the talk with the observation car agent they had looked into the reading-room only to discover that Job Haskers and Link Merwell had vanished. At once they had rushed into the building, looking through the hallways and other rooms that were open to the general public. Not a trace of the two evildoers was to be found anywhere. Then they had consulted the clerk at the desk, and through him had learned that only Job Haskers was stopping at the place.
"But he has a young friend here, a Mr. Smith—Jackson Smith," the clerk had told them. And then he had described the fellow called Jackson Smith, and Dave and his chums had felt assured that it was Link Merwell under an assumed name. Finally a visit had been paid to the rooms Haskers and Merwell had occupied, and both had been found vacated, with the keys sticking in the locks.
"And neither of 'em stopped to pay his bill," the clerk had told them, mournfully.
"I am not surprised," Dave had answered. "They are a bad pair."
The clerk had wanted to know the particulars, and the boys had told him as much as they deemed necessary. Then they had come out on the piazza of the hostelry, wondering what they ought to do next.