a ring of his room telephone.

"There's a gentleman downstairs asking for you," came the word in
response to his answer to the summons.

"Who is it?

"Says I'm to tell you he's Mr. Young."

"Oh, yes, Jack Young--send him up." The colonel closed the book with a
sigh of regret.

"No use trying to read Izaak now," he murmured. "It would be a
sacrilege. I'll have to wait a bit. Wonder what Jack wants. Ah, come
in!" he called, as a discreet knock sounded on the half-opened door.
"Trouble?"

"Not yet, Colonel, though there may be. Do you want me to follow King
out of town?"

"Of course. Wherever he goes. Stick to him like a leech," and the
detective indicated a chair to his visitor. Jack Young was one of the
Ashley Agency's most trusted lieutenants.

"I sent for you to have you shadow King," said the detective in a low
voice, seeing to it that the door was closed, "because I think we can
get something out of him."

"Not a confession, surely!" exclaimed Young.

"Well, if he gets drunk enough, yes. But not the kind of confession
that would be any use to us. What a man babbles when the wine is in
and the wit is out, wouldn't be much use in a court of law. But if you
can get him to tell anything about where he got that queer coin--the
one that used to be in Mrs. Darcy's collection--so much to the good.
But be foxy about it, Jack."

"I will! What I came to see about is whether you want me to follow him
out of town. He's been cutting a pretty wide swath since he got out on
bail, and he's been having some pretty sporty times."

"And you've been with him; is that it?"

"To the best of my ability, yes," admitted Jack, as he patted Chet,
when the dog, that evidently had met him before, slid over to have his
ears pulled.

"I have great faith in your ability, Jack. The point is to stick to
King. You managed to make friends with him?"

"That wasn't hard. But I'll need a little money if I'm to keep up his
pace. That's why I came to you."

"Perfectly right, Jack. Mason so thoroughly believes in the innocence
of Darcy, and he sticks by his daughter's engagement so well, that he'd
supply twice as much cash as was necessary to sift this to the bottom.
So here's some to enable you to keep up to King's pace."

"Of course it's none of my business, Colonel, but I'd like to know a
little bit about how the wind blows. Do you really suspect him of the
murder?"

"Jack, I don't know!" was the frank answer, as Chet went back to his
place by the gas log. "His having that odd coin was what put me on his
trail again, and I sent for you to shadow him, as I had too many other
irons in the fire. And you've done well. I guess there isn't much
that Harry has done since that night about a week ago, when I saw him
in the Homestead, that you don't know about."

"I guess not, Colonel."

"But, with it all, I'm not much nearer than I was at first."

"How about Spotty?"

"He won't say a word."

"You tried the third degree on him, of course?"

"I--er--I did and I didn't," the colonel answered, lamely. "You see,
you can't go too far with a man when he has saved your life."

"But he may know all about it."

"Possibly."

"How about young Darcy?"

The colonel did not answer at once. It was not until he had gone to a
closet and taken from it a package which he placed on a tabarette, on
which, near him, rested a box of cigars, that he spoke. Then he said:

"If I could find out why Singa Phut used this watch I'd be in a better
position to answer," and from the package the detective took the
timepiece which he had kept after Donovan had given it to him to
examine.

"You mean you're not sure about Darcy?"

"Well, I thought I was. At first I had my doubts. Then, when I had


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