CHAPTER I.
BLOODHOUND AND THE UNKNOWN.
Two persons were sitting at a table, in the Refectory beneath Lovejoy's Hotel. One of these drank brandy and the other drank water. The brandy drinker was our friend Bloodhound, and the drinker of water was a singular personage, whose forehead was shaded by a broad-brimmed hat, while the lower part of his face was covered by a blue kerchief, which was tied over his throat and mouth.
Seated at a table in the center of the place, these two conversed in low tones, while all around was uproar and confusion.
"You found these persons?" said the gentleman with the broad-brimmed hat and blue neckerchief.
"I didn't do anything else," replied the Hound—"I met you here, at Lovejoy's, about dusk. You were a tee-total stranger to me. You says, says you, that you'd like to do a good turn to Harry Royalton, and at the same time fix this white nigger and his sister—you know who I mean?"
"Randolph and Esther—"
"Well, we closed our bargain. You gave me a note to Randolph and one to his sister. I hunted 'em out and delivered your notes, and here I am."
Bloodhound smiled one of his most frightful smiles, and consoled himself with a glass of brandy.
"Where did you find these persons?" asked Blue Kerchief.