“Why, yes, but——”
“Unlock the door, then. I’ll face him down for you. You can take both of us to the hotel clerk, and I’ll speak the truth.”
The hall man hesitated a trifle, but Dave’s earnest urging induced him to produce a bunch of keys. Dave rushed into the room. He looked all around it.
“Why,” he cried, “it’s empty! The fellow is gone!”
Dave peered into a closet, under a bed, and then ran to the window. There the hall man was looking at a coat and hat lying on the platform of the fire escape, just outside of the casement.
“This is a queer go,” he said, slowly and dubiously, “but there seems to be something to your story.”
“I should think there was, a whole lot,” declared Dave. “Don’t you see?”
“What?”
“The fellow has escaped. He knew I was bound to get into this room. Those things fell out of his satchel as he got through the window.”
“Yes, his satchel is gone, that’s so,” observed the hall man. “Say, you had better report this to the clerk.”