With a sigh Melville suddenly seemed to realise that while there was no necessity for undue haste, yet it was not wise to be too leisurely in some things, so he took his hands from his pockets and drew to the middle of the floor a large Saratoga trunk. He threw the heavy lid open, and in doing so showed that the trunk was empty. Picking up the body of his friend, which he was surprised to note was so heavy and troublesome to handle, he with some difficulty doubled it up so that it slipped into the trunk. He piled on top of it some old coats, vests, newspapers, and other miscellaneous articles until the space above the body was filled. Then he pressed down the lid and locked it, fastening the catches at each end. Two stout straps were now placed around the trunk and firmly buckled after he had drawn them as tight as possible. Finally he damped the gum side of a paper label, and when he had pasted it on the end of the trunk, it showed the words in red letters, “S.S. Platonic, cabin, wanted.” This done, Melville threw open the window to allow the fumes of chloroform to dissipate themselves in the outside air. He placed a closed, packed and labelled portmanteau beside the trunk, and a valise beside that again, which, with a couple of handbags, made up his luggage. Then he unlocked the door, threw back the bolt, and, having turned the key again from the outside, strode down the thickly-carpeted stairs of the hotel into the large pillared and marble-floored vestibule where the clerk’s office was. Strolling up to the counter behind which stood the clerk of the hotel, he shoved his key across to that functionary, who placed it in the pigeon-hole marked by the number of his room.
“Did my friend leave for the West last night, do you know?”
“Yes,” answered the clerk, “he paid his bill and left. Haven’t you seen him since?”
“No,” replied Hardlock.
“Well, he’ll be disappointed about that, because he told me he expected to see you before he left, and would call up at your room later. I suppose he didn’t have time. By the way, he said you were going back to England to-morrow. Is that so?”
“Yes, I sail on the Platonic. I suppose I can have my luggage sent to the steamer from here without further trouble?”
“Oh, certainly,” answered the clerk; “how many pieces are there? It will be fifty cents each.”
“Very well; just put that down in my bill with the rest of the expenses, and let me have it to-night. I will settle when I come in. Five pieces of luggage altogether.”
“Very good. You’ll have breakfast to-morrow, I suppose?”
“Yes, the boat does not leave till nine o’clock.”