“Wish I might get a peep through the keyhole,” thought Vance. “I believe he is up to something queer. If I had time, I’d bring Merriwell here, so that he might catch the fellow in there.” He looked up at the transom. “If I could get a peep through that!” he mentally exclaimed. A moment later he was tip-toeing along the corridor, almost on the run. He had the key to his own room, and he quickly and silently unlocked the door and entered. Soon he came out, bearing a chair, and leaving the door of his room standing wide open. “I may want to get back there in a hurry,” he muttered. Reaching Merriwell’s room, he placed the chair before the door and quickly sprang upon it. Then, by standing on his toes, he was able to look through the transom glass. What he saw did not give him satisfaction just then, for Bart was sitting at a little table, writing swiftly. “Pshaw!” thought Vance. “He’s writing a letter—that’s all! He isn’t doing anything out of the way.” The fellow was filled with disappointment. Still he continued to stand on the chair and watch the youth within the room. After a time Bart finished his writing. He took out his watch and looked at it, muttering: “I must hurry if I want to catch that train.” Vance pricked up his ears. He knew nothing of the quarrel between Merriwell and Hodge, if quarrel it could be called, and still instinct told him that something was wrong. “Wonder why he’s going to catch a train?” he speculated. Hodge had risen, leaving what he had written on the table. He now picked up Frank Merriwell’s leather grip. “It’s a good thing I know how to spring this lock,” said Hodge, “else I’d not be able to get out of Atchison unless I walked, and I’d do that before I would stay here now. I have cut clear from everybody now, and I’m going to go it alone in the future. If I go to the dogs who cares!” The eyes of the spy beyond the transom began to glitter and he was in a flutter of excitement. Now he was certain that Hodge was up to something crooked, and he eagerly awaited developments. Bart worked at the lock of the leather bag. It was some time before he succeeded in opening it, but succeed he did at last. The man outside the door rose on his tiptoes and peered through the glass. In his excitement he nearly lost his balance, but he recovered without falling with a crash that would have alarmed the man he was watching. Vance felt his heart fluttering and throbbing; it was not easy for him to control his breathing, which now was loud and hoarse. A sense of exultation was growing in his bosom. “So that is the chap Frank Merriwell trusts!” he thought. “That is the friend in whom he has so much confidence! Ha!” Hodge was taking things out of the grip. He scarcely looked at them as he dumped them out. He was eager and in great haste.