et them at his apartment
at ten o'clock.

His obligation to the two South Americans seemed slight, now that the
bill had passed from his hands and that he knew the nature of Poritol's
actions. Nevertheless, he was a man of his word, and he hurried back to
the Pere Marquette, for the hour was close to ten. He was influenced to
some extent by the thought that Poritol and Alcatrante, on learning how
he had been robbed of the bill, might unwittingly give him a further
clue.

No one had called for him. He waited till ten minutes past the hour,
before he concluded that he had fulfilled his part of the bargain with
them. Though he did not understand it, he attached no especial
significance to their failure to appear.

Once again he went to North Parker Street. Three forty-one proved to be a
notion shop. Through the window he saw a stout woman reading a newspaper
behind the counter. When he entered she laid the paper aside and arose
languidly, as though customers were rather a nuisance than a blessing.
She was forty, but not fair.

Orme asked to see a set of studs. She drew a box from a show-case and
spread the assortment before him.

He selected a set and paid her, offering a ten-dollar bill. She turned to
a cash register and made change--which included a five-dollar bill.

Orme could hardly believe his eyes. The bill which she placed in his hand
bore the written words: "Remember Person you pay this to."

He turned it over. In the corner was a familiar set of abbreviations.
There was no doubt about it. The bill was the same which had been taken
from him, and which he had last seen in the possession of Maku.

What an insistent piece of green paper that marked bill was! It had
started him on this remarkable series of adventures. It had introduced
excitable little Poritol and the suave Alcatrante to his apartment. It
had made him the victim of the attack by the two Japanese. It had brought
the girl into his life. And now it came again into his possession just at
the moment to prove that he was on the right track in his search for Maku
and the man who had the papers. The queerest coincidence was that the
bill would never have come into his possession at all, had it not been
for his first meeting with the girl--who at that very time was herself
searching for it. The rubbing of his hat against the wheel of her car--on
so little thing as that had hinged the events that followed.

"This is strange," Orme addressed the woman.