“Finally the first cab stopped at the corner of Broadway and Sixteenth Street.
“My cab stopped on the next corner.
“I got out in a hurry, and I saw an old man get out of the other cab.”
“Wot was de number of de cab youse was in?”
“Number one hundred and forty-seven.”
“All right.”
“As I said, an old man got out of the other cab. I got close up to him when he was paying the driver, and I heard him tell the man that he would not need him any longer.
“As the old bloke walked off I noticed that he had the lock step.”
“You don’t say!” interposed Nick.
“I do. At first I was not sure, but as I followed him and noted every action, I knew that he had been a guest at the big hotel up the river. He looked respectable enough, but there was the stamp of the prison on him.