y made a thorough search of the room the pair
had occupied in De Silva's house.

The Hungarian did not deny his name nor his share in the earlier crime.

"It is fate," he said doggedly in his broken French. "When they tell
me we have killed the man I know the police get us."

He would say no more. His words seemed to imply that neither he nor
Rossi meant to do other than maim the journalist whom they regarded as
de Courtois's dangerous helper; but he did not urge the plea. Perhaps
he felt that when a Hungarian uses a knife, a trifling error in the
matter of direction is pardonable.

"I shall not go home now," said Steingall, bidding farewell to his
allies when Martiny had been formally identified and charged. "I must
get this thing thoroughly straightened out before morning, though the
inquest and police court proceedings will be mere adjournments.
Good-night, Mr. Devar. Good-night, Mr. Curtis. Once more, thank you.
And, by the way, if all is not well at the Plaza, 'phone me at once.
Remember, won't you? Good-night!"

CHAPTER XV

WHEREIN THE PACE SLACKENS--BUT ONLY FOR A FEW HOURS

"Say, old man," muttered Devar, gazing fixedly at Brodie's broad
shoulders as Broadway unrolled its even width before the car on the
uptown journey, "are we the same couple of blighters who met in a
bathroom gangway, 'B' Deck, near staterooms 51 and 52, on board the
Cunard steamship _Lusitania_, about twenty-one hours since; or have we
become dematerialized?"

Curtis knew that the boy was quivering with excitement, but it was
useless to advise a slackening of the tension, so he merely said:

"Do you feel like a Mahatma?"

"If a Mahatma is a fellow with a head like a balloon, not in size, but
in contents, yes. Have you ever had a real jag on you, not the big
dinner, big bottle, big cigar sort of imitation, but the wild-eyed,
imp-seeing, genuine rip-snorter?"

"No. Neither have you."

"I should have denied the charge before to-night. But I know now what
it means. It is a brain-storm induced by rum. There are many other
varieties, at least fifty-seven, and I've sampled fifty-six different
sorts in nine hours. Do you realize that it is just nine hours since I
walked into the Central Hotel, and the orchestra struck up? Good Lord!
Nine hours! And do you remember, Curtis, I said as we came up the
harbor that you would have a hell of a good time in New York? Ha, ha!
likewise ho, ho! A good time! Eating, fighting