Looking in over the short doors of the drinking place, Dick saw that Cuffer was not there.  He rightly surmised that the fellow had gone upstairs, to a room he was occupying.

“Perhaps that fellow Shelley is with him,” mused Dick.  “If so, I’d like to collar them both.”

Several men were coming and going and nobody paid particular attention to the youth until he gained the dingy office, where two men were smoking and talking over the merits of some race horses.

“What can I do for you?” asked one of the men abruptly, as Dick looked around.

“Is a man named Cuffer stopping here?”

The hotel clerk shook his head.

“Perhaps I have the name wrong.  I mean a man who came in a minute or two ago—­fellow with a soft hat, knocked in on the side.”

“Oh, that chap!  Yes, he’s here—­room eighteen, next floor,” and the clerk pointed up the stairs, for the hotel had no elevator.

Dick walked up the stairs slowly, revolving in his mind what he should do if he met Cuffer face to face.  If he had the man arrested it might lead to legal complications, and the voyage in search of Treasure Isle might be delayed.  It would be hard to prove that the rascal had done any actual wrong.

Reaching the upper hallway, Dick looked at the dingy numbers on the still more dingy doors.  Eighteen proved to be at the rear, where it was so dark he could scarcely see.

As the youth approached the door he heard a murmur of voices in the room beyond.  He listened, and made out Cuffer speaking, and then he recognized the voice of Shelley.

“And so I dusted out before I had a chance to get any money from Sobber,” Cuffer was saying.

“Well, did the Rovers catch the young fellow?” questioned Shelley.

“That I don’t know.  If he didn’t know enough to run away he is a fool.”

“You say one of the Rovers followed you from the train?”

“Yes, but I gave him the slip as soon as I reached the Bowery,” answered Cuffer with a chuckle.

“Well, what are we to do next?” asked Shelley, after a pause.

“There is nothing to do but to wait until tomorrow, when Merrick arrives.”

“Have you any faith in this treasure hunt of his?”

“I have so long as he pays the bills.  I wouldn’t put a cent of my own money in it.”

“Has he got enough money to see the thing through?”

“So he says.  He met the captain of that tramp vessel somewhere and got him interested in the hunt by promising him a share of the find.  He says as soon as he can get hold of a Spaniard who knows the exact location of the island he’ll set sail.”

“And take the Spaniard along?”

“Of course.  The Spaniard was one of the chaps who originally took the treasure to the island.”

“Well, where do we come in?”

“He wants us along because he is afraid the fellows on the vessel will make a fight for the gold and jewels when they are found.  Some of those sailors are pretty bloodthirsty, you know.  He says he is going to take at least four strong men whom he can trust.”