"I don't know about that," he replied. "Babcock didn't see 'em to speak to 'em, and they didn't come off with him."
"Now—why didn't they?" exclaimed the disappointed Roy, who had secretly cherished the hope that the fellow who so suddenly disappeared through the door was one of his chums. It would have been just like Art Hastings to play a trick of that kind on him.
"I'll tell you why he didn't speak to—what's their names?" answered Willis. "He spoke to the clerk instead, because he did not want to raise a row, and he told him all about you."
"The clerk did?" said Roy. "Why, he doesn't know anything about me. He never saw me until I went into his hotel in company with my friends."
"That's what he told Bab; but he knew you were from—what is the name of that place again?"
"Mount Airy?"
"That's it. He knew you came from there, and more than that, he saw the genuine Rowe Shelly."
"There, now," cried Roy. "That's evidence worth having. Did he catch him?"
"No; but he is close on his trail. He brought this news over to me just now, Babcock did, and then went back to follow him up."