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He, however, entered desperately, and approaching the window of the receiving teller, put the question he had formulated in his mind: Could they give him any information concerning a customer or correspondent who had just arrived in San Francisco and was putting up at the Niantic Hotel, room 74? He felt his face flushing, but, to his astonishment, the clerk manifested no surprise. “And you don’t know his name?” said the clerk quietly. “Wait a moment.” He moved away, and Randolph saw him speaking to one of the other clerks, who consulted a large register. In a few minutes he returned. “We don’t have many customers,” he began politely, “who leave only their hotel-room addresses,” when he was interrupted by a mumbling protest from one of the other clerks. “That’s very different,” he replied to his fellow clerk, and then turned to Randolph. “I’m afraid we cannot help you; but I’ll make other inquiries if you’ll come back in ten minutes.” Satisfied to be relieved from the present perils of his questioning, and doubtful of returning, Randolph turned away. But as he left the building he saw a written notice on the swinging door, “Wanted: a Night Porter;” and this one chance of employment determined his return.

When he again presented himself at the window the clerk motioned him to step inside through a lifted rail. Here he found himself confronted by the clerk and another man, distinguished by a certain air of authority, a keen gray eye, and singularly compressed lips set in a closely clipped beard. The clerk indicated him deferentially but briefly–everybody was astonishingly brief and businesslike there–as the president. The president absorbed and possessed Randolph with eyes that never seemed to leave him. Then leaning back against the counter, which he lightly grasped with both hands, he said: “We’ve sent to the Niantic Hotel to inquire about your man. He ordered his room by letter, giving no name. He arrived there on time last night, slept there, and has occupied the room No. 74 ever since. WE don’t know him from Adam, but”–his eyes never left Randolph’s–“from the description the landlord gave our clerk, you’re the man himself.”

For an instant Randolph flushed crimson. The natural mistake of the landlord flashed upon him, his own stupidity in seeking this information, the suspicious predicament in which he was now placed, and the necessity of telling the whole truth. But the president’s eye was at once a threat and an invitation. He felt himself becoming suddenly cool, and, with a business brevity equal to their own, said:–

“I was looking for work last night on the wharf. He employed me to carry his bag to the hotel, saying I was to wait for him. I have waited since nine o’clock last night in his room, and he has not come.”

“What are you in such a d—-d hurry for? He’s trusted you; can’t you trust him? You’ve got his bag?” returned the president.

Randolph was silent for a moment. “I want to know what to do with it,” he said.

“Hang on to it. What’s in it?”

“Some clothes and a purse containing about seventy dollars.”

“That ought to pay you for carrying it and storage afterward,” said the president decisively. “What made you come here?”

“I found this address in the purse,” said Randolph, producing it.

“Is that all?”

“Yes.”

“And that’s the only reason you came here, to find an owner for that bag?”

“Yes.”

The president disengaged himself from the counter.

“I’m sorry to have given you so much trouble,” said Randolph concludingly. “Thank you and good-morning.”

“Good-morning.”

As Randolph turned away he remembered the advertisement for the night watchman. He hesitated and turned back. He was a little surprised to find that the president had not gone away, but was looking after him.

“I beg your pardon, but I see you want a night watchman. Could I do?” said Randolph resolutely.

“No. You’re a stranger here, and we want some one who knows the city,–Dewslake,” he returned to the receiving teller, “who’s taken Larkin’s place?”