"Remember this. You're taking no more chances with me than you are where you're going. I'm sticking with you. Understand?"
"Right," answered Powell, "but I won't be ready for a while. I want to mull this over, and I've got to go up to my room. Where will you be?"
"Here in the lobby."
Wallace Powell arose and extended his hand. Harry Vincent accepted it. The gawky man moved forward, and Harry stood aside to let him pass.
They were finishing their handclasp, and Harry was at Powell's side. A number of road maps were extending from Powell's right coat pocket. One of them was on the point of falling.
Instinctively, Harry plucked it with his left hand, and it came free of the pocket. Harry's left hand dropped behind his back as Powell walked away. The man, fortunately, did not turn to look back.
"Perhaps I made a mistake," thought Harry, as he stood alone. "If he finds this missing, he may suspect, and call off the deal. But then" — his chain of thought changed — "if this means anything and Powell knows it's gone, he'll be anxious to work with me quick — because he'll be afraid I'll get there ahead of him!" Sitting at a smoking table, Harry Vincent unfolded the road map, and a smile came to his lips. The map was marked. Off from a main road extended a thin, penciled line, leading toward the town of Herkimer. Harry noted at one spot, the beginning of a fork, the line continued to the right. Then, at a spot marked with a cross line, was a tiny road leading off, and the letter "X" at the end of it. What was the cross line? A bridge? The letter must surely indicate a house. Harry Vincent had obtained the advance information that he wanted. He was still willing to spend the five thousand dollars to learn all that Wallace Powell knew!
Chapter V — A Guest Checks Out
When Harry Vincent returned to the lobby of the hotel, he resumed his placid waiting in the chair by the pillar. The clock above the desk showed quarter past ten. From Harry's estimate on the road map, the spot near Herkimer could not be more than an hour's ride from Baltimore.
Harry knew that Wallace Powell had an automobile available, though Powell did not refer to it in talking; neither did Harry mention his own car, ready for use.