He saw them turn east, and then they were lost to his sight. With a heavy heart the young millionaire returned to the hotel. Policemen were standing guard out in the hall.
There was a door connecting room 43 with 44. Maynard secured the latter room and threw himself on the bed. He lay for a long time listening to the talk of the officers, but finally fell into an uneasy slumber.
When he awoke again there was a bright light in 43. His door was a trifle ajar, and he could hear voices in the room where the dead man lay. He arose and stepped toward the door. Then a voice that he knew came to his ears. It was the voice of a woman.
“I think we’ve settled Nicholas for good and all,” she said. “That was a clever thought.”
Maynard started back in terror. What was that woman doing there, in the room with his murdered chum? Why should she desire to see the detective come to harm? Maynard actually pinched himself to see if he was not dreaming. But what he heard was a reality, fast enough. Had this woman whose voice he heard taken any part in the murder? While the young man puzzled over the matter, another voice reached his ears:
“Yes, Nick will trouble us no more,” it said. “He went up against the wrong bunch this time.”
This voice was as familiar to Maynard as the other, only it was a man’s voice. He could not figure it out. Why should these people be here, and why was the room open at all? Had Nick Carter come to harm? With this thought prominent in his mind, Maynard moved toward the doorway. In the half light of the room he stumbled over a rocker and fell heavily to the floor. Before he could get on his feet again he heard quick steps rushing into the room, saw a blaze of light from the doorway; saw, also, two faces that he knew, rage and apprehension showing upon them. Then he called out, saw an uplifted arm, heard a wrathful voice, and a blow descended.
When the officers came to 43 in the early morning, they found the door to 44 open. Entering, they found Maynard lying on the floor with a frightful wound in his head and a stab in the region of the heart. Room 43 gave many evidences of having been searched thoroughly. Even the carpet had been loosened in places. The body of Townsend, however, had been in no wise disturbed. Maynard was conveyed to his hotel, and the dead man taken to the residence of his parents.
“If Maynard lives,” the doctor said, “it will be a wonder. He was left for dead.”