It was nine-twenty that same evening when Keller broke in upon his companion, who sat at the little desk, still busied with his writing. Keller seemed flustered, not to say indignant. He slammed the door behind him viciously.
“Somebody’s on,” he stated, speaking with disconsolate conviction. “I know I haven’t said anything, and it don’t stand to reason that you’d be talking; but they’re on.”
“On what?” inquired Bronston calmly.
“On to us—that’s what! It’s leaked out who we are.”
“What makes you think that?”
“I don’t think anything about it—I know. I’ve got the proofs. We had our little game all fixed up for to-night—me and the same three fellows I’ve been playing with right along; but when I looked them up in the smoking [440] room after dinner they all three excused themselves—said they didn’t feel like playing. Well, that was all right, but a little later I saw Latham and Levy joining in a game with two other men, both strangers to me. So I tried to get into another game that was just starting up, and the fellows there horned me out. I could tell they didn’t want to be playing with me. And going through the lounge I tumbled, all of a sudden, to the fact that all the people there, men and women both, were looking hard at me and nodding to one another—get what I mean? Maybe they didn’t think I saw them—I didn’t let on, of course—but I did see ’em. I tell you they’re on. Say, what do you know about a lot of stuck-up people passing up a man cold, just because they’ve found out some way that he’s a private detective?”
Overcome by his feelings he snorted in disgust. Then added, as an afterthought: “Well, what’s the next move? What do you think we’d better do now?”
Bronston considered a moment before answering.
“If your suspicions are correct I take it the best thing for us to do is to stay away from the other passengers as much as we possibly can during the rest of this trip. At least that’s what I figure on doing—with your consent.”
“How about that Miss What’s-her-name, the girl who was with you this morning?” [441] asked Keller. “How are you going to cut her out?”