“He doesn’t try to help it. He wants to be smart, and when he fails he isn’t man enough to shoulder the blame.”
For nearly an hour the boys remained at the window discussing the strange disappearance. Then they followed Mark and Frank to bed, and were soon sleeping with equal soundness.
The disappearance of Hockley, coupled with the fact that Professor Strong did not return, awoke the lads early, and by seven o’clock Darry and Sam were downstairs.
“Let us see if the professor is anywhere about,” suggested Darry, and they were on the point of moving off when a hotel attendant came up to them, a man from Florida who spoke English.
“Are you Samuel Winthrop?” he asked.
“I am,” answered Sam.
“I have a private note for you,” went on the attendant.
“A note? What can it mean?”
“Perhaps it’s from the professor?” suggested Darry.
Sam lost no time in tearing open the communication, which ran as follows: