before, Cleek? What were you, who were you, in the days
before?"

"The Vanishing Cracksman--a dog who would have gone on, no doubt,
to a dog's end but for your kind hand and the dear eyes of Ailsa
Lorne. Now give me my tea--I'm famishing--and after that we'll talk
of this new riddle that needs unriddling for the honour of the Yard.
Yes, thanks, two lumps, and just a mere dash of milk. Gad! It's good
to be back in England, dear friend; it's good, it's good!"

CHAPTER II

"Five men, eh?" said Cleek, glancing up at Mr. Narkom, who for two
or three minutes past had been giving him a sketchy outline of the
case in hand. "A goodish many that. And all inside of the past six
weeks, you say? No wonder the papers have been hammering the Yard,
if, as you suggest, they were not accidental deaths. Sure they are
not?"

"As sure as I am that I'm speaking to you at this minute. I had
my doubts in the beginning--there seemed so little to connect the
separate tragedies--but when case after case followed with exactly,
or nearly exactly, the same details in every instance, one simply
_had_ to suspect foul play."

"Naturally. Even a donkey must know that there's food about if he
smells thistles. Begin at the beginning, please. How did the affair
start? When and where?"

"In the neighbourhood of Hampstead Heath at two o'clock in the
morning. The constable on duty in the district came upon a man clad
only in pajamas lying face downward under the wall surrounding a
corner house--still warm but as dead as Queen Anne."

"In his pajamas, eh?" said Cleek, reaching for a fresh slice of
toast. "Pretty clear evidence that that poor beggar's trouble,
whatever it was, must have overtaken him in bed and that that bed was
either in the vicinity of the spot where he was found, or else the
man had been carried in a closed vehicle to the place where the
constable discovered him. A chap can't walk far in that kind of a
get-up without attracting attention. And the body was warm, you
say, when found. Hum-m! Any vehicle seen or heard in the vicinity of
the spot just previously?"

"Not the ghost of one. The night was very still, and the constable
must have heard if either cab, auto, carriage, or dray had passed in
any direction whatsoever. He is positive that none did. Naturally,
he thought, as you suggested just now, that the man must have come
from some house in the neighbourhood. Investigation, however,
proved that he did not--in short, th