His eyes closed and although he tried to keep awake in a few minutes he was fast asleep. Dan Markel eyed him curiously.
“He was easier game than I thought of striking,” said the man from Baltimore to himself. “A gold watch and about a hundred dollars in cash. That’s not so bad. Wonder what I had best do with him?”
The carriage rolled on, and as it covered the distance to the Hotel Ziroda, Dan Markel revolved the situation in his mind. As the turnout came to a stop a peculiar light flashed in the rascal’s dark eyes.
“Might as well go the whole thing while I am at it,” he said to himself. “I won’t be able to hoodwink that professor as I have this young fellow. If I can get the rest of the money I can clear out, and they’ll never be able to find me.”
He and the carriage driver assisted Hockley to the ground, and then one of the hotel helpers came forward and helped Markel get the youth to the room which the man from Baltimore occupied. No questions were asked, for such occurrences were not uncommon among those who patronized the Hotel Ziroda.
“He will stay with me to-night,” said Markel. “I will foot the bill whatever it is.”
Laying Hockley on the bed, Markel allowed him to sleep there, while he himself took a nap in a chair by the window. The youth lay in a stupor, snoring loudly, and was still snoring when Markel roused up at six o’clock.
“My friend wishes you to send around to his hotel for his traveling bag,” said the man from Baltimore to the clerk in the office. “Here is his card. If Professor Strong is there, tell him that Mr. Hockley wishes to get a souvenir from the bag to give to his friend who is to sail to-day.”
A messenger was sent off, and while he was gone Dan Markel walked around anxiously. He was half afraid Professor Strong would accompany the messenger on the return, in which case it would perhaps be best for him to leave by a back way and without notice to anybody.
The messenger was gone fully half an hour, but when he returned he was alone, much to Markel’s relief. He had Hockley’s valise and turned it over to the man from Baltimore without question.