O'Rourke started from his chair, with dismay and shame written on his face.
"Sit down and have another," said Hemming; "we'll look it up in a few days."
CHAPTER X.
LIEUTENANT ELLIS IS CONCERNED
By the time Hemming and O'Rourke reached Tampa, about thirty thousand men had gone under canvas in the surrounding pine groves and low-lying waste places. There were Westerners and Easterners, regulars and volunteers, and at Port Tampa a regiment of coloured cavalry. Troops were arriving every day. Colonel Wood and Lieutenant-Colonel Roosevelt, with their splendid command of mounted infantry, had just pitched their shelter-tents in a place of scrub palmetto, behind the big hotel. Taken altogether, it was an army that made Hemming stare.
The friends went to a quiet hotel with wide verandas, cool rooms, open fireplaces, and what proved equally attractive, reasonable rates. They inquired of the clerk about Mr. Hudson. He remembered the gentleman well, though he had spent only two days in the place. "He had a daughter with him," the man informed them, and, turning to the front of the register, looked up the name. "There's the signature, sir, and you're welcome to it," he said. The correspondents examined it intently for some time.
"We know that that means Hudson," remarked O'Rourke, at last, "and I should guess John for the other sprawl."
"Sprawl is good," said Hemming, straightening his monocle, "but any one can see that Robert is the name."
"I've put a lot of study on it," said the clerk, "and so has the boss, and we've about agreed to call it Harold."
"Take your choice," said O'Rourke, "but tell me what you make of the address."