“You say he met Professor Dillard and Drukker at the very spot where Drukker fell over the wall?” Markham leaned forward hopefully.
“Yes, sir. Pardee stopped to visit with them; and I naturally kept on going. As I passed ’em I heard the hunchback say: ‘Why ain’t you practising chess this evening?’ And it sounded to me like he was sore at Pardee for stopping, and was hinting that he wasn’t wanted. Anyhow, I ambled along the wall till I got to 74th Street where there was a couple of trees to hide under. . . .”
“How well could you see Pardee and Drukker after you’d reached 74th Street?” interrupted Markham.
“Well, sir, to tell you the truth, I couldn’t see ’em at all. It was getting pretty misty about that time, and there isn’t any lamp-post at that part of he walk where they were confabulating. But I figured Pardee would be along pretty soon, so I waited for him.”
“This must have been well on toward ten o’clock.”
“About a quarter of, I should say, sir.”
“Were there any people on the walk at that time?”
“I didn’t see anybody. The fog musta driven ’em indoors—it wasn’t no warm balmy evening. And it was on account of there being nobody around that I went as far ahead as I did. Pardee’s nobody’s fool, and I’d already caught him looking at me once or twice as though he suspected I was tailing him.”
“How long was it before you picked him up again?”