replied the elated officer, "if yez don't tell me what
yez're doin' here. I've been lookin' out for this place while Mr.
Gladwin was in foreign parts, and"----

"You know Mr. Gladwin?" broke in the Jap, excitedly.

"No, I ain't never seen him," said Phelan, "but I know this is his
house an' I been keepin' my eye on it fer him."

"Mr. Gladwin--he my boss!" and the Jap grinned from ear to ear.

This solution of the mystery never entered the policeman's head and he
resented the surprise.

"Do yez mean yez're his valley?" he asked vindictively, refusing to
relinquish his suspicion.

"Ees!" and again the Jap grinned.

Phelan read the grin as a distinct insult to his intelligence and he
pounced upon the little brown man in an even more caustic tone:

"If yez're are Mr. Gladwin's valley, what are ye doin' here an' him
thousands o' miles away across the ocean in Agypt an' Jerusalem an'
the like?"

Now it was Phelan's turn to grin as he saw the Jap shrink and turn
upon him a pair of wildly alarmed eyes.

"Come! Come! I'm waitin' fer an answer," The cat had his mouse backed
into a corner and mentally licked his chops.

"I no can tell," stammered the Jap, desperately.

"That's enough!" ripped out Officer 666, grabbing the Jap by the
shoulder and yanking him toward the doorway.

"No--no--wait!" gasped the struggling prisoner. "You no say if I tell
you, plees?"

"Tell me first," grunted Phelan, releasing his grip.

The Jap ducked his head in every direction as if fearful that the
walls had ears, then said in an impressive whisper:

"My boss--Mr. Gladwin--home!"

"Misther Gladwin home! Here in New York!" There was both incredulity
and amazement in Phelan's voice.

"Ees!" bleated the Jap and his grin returned.

"Well, why didn't you say so before?" said Phelan angrily, at which
the fidgety little brown son of Nippon hastened to explain:

"No one should know. He come all in much secret. He go boat to Boston.
No use name. No one know he Mr. Gladwin. He say, 'Bateato'--me
Bateato--'Bateato,' he say, 'no tell I come home--sure,' he say, and
Bateato he no tell."

Officer Phelan yielded to the grip of the mystery and his attitude
toward the Jap changed.

"What did he want to snake home that away fer?"

"I no know," nodded Bateato.

"Yez no know, eh? Well, is he comin' here?--do yez no know that?"

"He tell me--come here and wait--feex thees room--he come here or
telephone."

The straightforward manner of