"What are the other passengers going to do?"
"Dey's all climbin' out fo' dinnuh."
Mathison pulled at his lip. His decision came in a flash, one of that caliber which only true adventurers dare make. The blind Madonna of the Pagan, Chance! With a wave of the hand, to consign the burden to her! Perhaps it was the green plush, the red paint on the four steel walls; anyhow, he decided to spend the night at the hotel. He would immediately deposit the manila envelope and the little red book—Hallowell's—in the hotel safe and advise New York by wire his positive whereabouts. If anything happened to him, they would know where to find his personal effects. There would be no Secret Service operatives at his beck and call here; he would be on his own.
This decision reacted upon him mentally and physically like champagne. All his craving for sleep, all his depression, went by the board magically. He began to thrill and bubble with gaiety. And there would be Malachi. In the quiet of the hotel room he might be inveigled into talking.
"All right, George; I'll climb out, too. The Lord help me, but I can't stand this damned green plush any longer! I'll spend the night at your Watkins. Now listen. When the train stops wait half an hour before you come for my kit-bags. Engage a taxi. If you can get me into that taxi without being observed, there'll be a five-spot for you. You didn't tell the waiter this morning about knocking. When I finally got the meal it was cold."
"I done fo'got. I sure is busy dis trip."
"Will you be aboard all night?"
"Yes, suh. I ain't allowed to leave in a case like dis. Dey won't nobody see yo' in all dis rampagin' snow. All right; thutty minutes aftuh de train stops."
The porter backed out. Almost instantly he heard the lock snap into the socket. He scratched his woolly poll ruminatingly.
"Well, suttinly dis niggah nevah struck a bunch like dis befo'. Two women hidin' behin' veils w'en I makes up de beds—like dey jes' got ovah smallpox. An' dis chap makin' me signal on de do', an' totin' a parrot! Well, politeness is mah middle name. I'se goin' t' do jes' es dey tells me. W'en I gits t' New York I'll buy dat Ford Lizzie."