"How is he?" asked Larry.
The superintendent called over a private telephone connected with the ward where Retto had been taken:
"How is the patient just brought in from the pier? Comfortable, eh? That's good."
Then he turned to Larry:
"I guess you can go up soon," he added. "Can you give us his name, and some particulars? He was unconscious when he came in," and the superintendent prepared to jot down the information on his record book.
This was a complication Larry had not foreseen. If he gave the superintendent the fugitive's name, any other reporters who came to the hospital to inquire about the injured man would at once connect Retto with the Potter mystery, and the Leader's chance for a beat would be small indeed. What was he to do? He decided to take the superintendent partly into his confidence.
"I know the name he goes by," he said, as the beginning of his account, "but I do not believe it is his right one. I think it is an alias he uses."
"Never mind then," the superintendent interrupted, much to Larry's relief. "If it's a false name we don't want it."
"I believe it is," Larry added, and he was honest in that statement, for he felt that Retto was playing some deep game, and, in that case, would not be likely to use his right name.
"We don't want our records wrong," the head of the hospital resumed. "We'll wait until he can tell us about himself."