y; dirty alleys ran between them;
the smells were many and offensive. Leisurely he walked along a street
crowded with low auction rooms, cheap variety places and establishments
which provided a curious medley of food which a patron might consume
while he stood up and listened to the nerve-tearing din of an automatic
piano.

Away amidst a horde of other signs, the big athlete noted one bearing
the Swiss coat of arms.

"Friend Bohlmier's hotel," Bat said to himself. "I may as well stop in
and look around. Maybe the slim one is stirring."

The hotel, now that he saw it in daylight, was rather neat looking
outside; the window glass shone; there was clean paint upon the doors
and other woodwork; through the windows of the office plants were to be
seen, growing greenly, in pots. The building was upon a corner; just
around this, upon a rather more quiet street than the main one, was the
door at which Nora's cab had stood the night before. And as Bat slowly
took in the sinister aspects of the neighborhood, he marveled at what he
had seen.

"A girl like Nora coming alone to a place like this in the night, and in
this section of the city!" he exclaimed, mentally. "It's got me winging,
I'll admit that."

With careless manner he strolled into the little sanded office. The
Rhine Castles, in the prints upon the wall, still reared ruggedly from
their hilltops; the Alpine goatherds looked exceedingly romantic and
self-conscious as they posed against the backgrounds of their herds. The
place was empty, however; and as Bat paused he heard a peculiarly hard
and sliding sound. It was not a large sound; indeed it was quite small,
but there was a slippery, deft regularity to it which caused the big
athlete to catch and hold it, turning it over in his mind to come at its
meaning. But in a few moments it stopped; there was a movement of feet
upon the sanded floor, a chair was pushed back and a bald head appeared
above the top of a screen.

"Ach!" said the voice of old Bohlmier. "It is you?"

"Yes," replied Bat, as he moved toward the screen. "Just thought I'd
come in and see if my friend was around."

"Not yet," said the Swiss. "Not yet. He is neffer about much till the
night dime. Eh?" Chuckling quaintly, the head disappeared and Scanlon
reached the edge of the screen.

It was a cozily secluded corner, with a window facing upon the inner
courtyard; geraniums stood in painted pots on shelves across the window;
a rack of music was a