"No, but I wish they would. It's in the way here." "Could you let us know in case any one does call?" Frank went on, giving his reasons for the request. "We'll pay you for your trouble." "I s'pose I could. Where'll you be?" "We ought to stop at some hotel near here," Frank suggested. "Then we can come here quickly if we get a message." "Do you know of a good hotel near here?" asked Bart of the agent. "There's the Imperial a few blocks up the street. It's not especially good, but it's respectable. I guess you could stop there." "That will do," Frank said. "We'll get rooms there. We will send for our trunks, and you can telephone us in case that other one is called for." He gave the man a couple of dollars to pay for his trouble, and for any telephone messages he might have to send, and then the three chums went to the same hotel where Ned had stopped. The same clerk was on duty who had been there when Ned registered, and he seemed rather surprised at the three well dressed youths who entered. Usually the Imperial, in spite of its name, did not attract such a class of patrons. The boys bargained for three connecting rooms, and, as they had plenty of money were given good apartments on the second floor. "Register," the clerk said, swinging the book around to them. As Bart took the pen to write his name, he looked at the book and gave a start. "I thought first that was Ned's writing," he said as he looked where his chum, but a few hours before had written "Thomas Seldon." "Friend of yours?" asked the clerk quickly. "I thought first it looked like the writing of a chum of mine," Bart replied. "But it's different I see." "Guess that chap doesn't travel in your company," the clerk went on, as the other boys put down their names. "Why?" "Oh, he's a crook I guess," and he told of the discovery of Ned's escape down the rope. "He hasn't done anything as far as we can learn," the clerk went on, "but his getting out that way showed there was something wrong, though he was honest enough to leave a dollar for his room, which he didn't occupy. However, the police would like to get him just to see why he was in such a hurry to get away. "Funny thing, too," the clerk continued. "He left his valise behind him. He must have lowered it out of the window by the rope, or else he threw it out. Anyway, just before we found out that he had gone, our chef went out in the back yard for a breath of air. He saw the valise lying on the ground, but didn't take notice of the rope. He brought the satchel in and gave it to me. I was talking to a detective at the desk, one who comes in here every once in a while to see if there are any suspicious characters. I was telling him about this Seldon lad, just as the cook handed me the grip. I recognized it as the one the boy had when he came in, and got suspicious. We went to his room, but he had skipped. We've got the valise yet, but haven't opened it. The police may in a few days."