racters in his sketch, rude and unformed though it was,
stood out clearly. As to his own personal history, the agent was
unresponsive. At length the guest, apologizing for untimely weariness,
it being then 3.15 A.M., yawned his way to the portable shack.

He slept heavily, except for a brief period when the rain let up. In the
morning--which term seasoned newspaper men apply to twelve noon and the
hour or two thereafter--he inquired of Banneker, "Any tramps around
here?"

"No," answered the agent, "Not often. There were a pair yesterday
morning, but they went on."

"Some one was fussing around the place about first light. I was too
sleepy to get up. I yipped and they beat it. I don't think they got
inside."

Banneker investigated. Nothing was missing from within the shack. But
outside he made a distressing discovery.

His molasses pie was gone.

CHAPTER IV

"To accomplish a dessert as simple and inexpensive as it is tasty,"
prescribes The Complete Manual of Cookery, p. 48, "take one cup of thick
molasses--" But why should I infringe a copyright when the culinary
reader may acquire the whole range of kitchen lore by expending
eighty-nine cents plus postage on 39 T 337? Banneker had faithfully
followed the prescribed instructions. The result had certainly been
simple and inexpensive; presumably it would have proven tasty. He
regretted and resented the rape of the pie. What aroused greater
concern, however, was the presence of thieves. In the soft ground near
the window he found some rather small footprints which suggested that it
was the younger of the two hoboes who had committed the depredation.

Theorizing, however, was not the order of his day. Routine and
extra-routine claimed all his time. There was his supplementary report
to make out; the marooned travelers in Manzanita to be looked after and
their bitter complaints to be listened to; consultations over the wire
as to the condition and probabilities of the roadbed, for the floods had
come again; and in and out of it all, the busy, weary, indefatigable
Gardner, giving to the agent as much information as he asked from him.
When their final lists were compared, Banneker noticed that there was no
name with the initials I.O.W. on Gardner's. He thought of mentioning the
clue, but decided that it was of too little definiteness and importance.
The news value of mystery, enhanced by youth and beauty, which the
veriest cub who had ever smelled printer's in