up here on an earlier
tomato-swiping raid. Norvallis swore out a warrant yesterday afternoon
and started a couple of sleuths on the trail of Maxon and his lady
friend, and they were arrested early this morning in the village of
Chiswick, about fifty miles down the line. What do you think of that?"

"What is the charge?"

"Indefinite. They're to be held on suspicion of being concerned in the
murder. That's why I say it sounds like a weak case."

"How do they trace the dagger to Maxon?"

"He is supposed to have an accomplice." Bolt looked a little more
serious. "Steiner was more cautious on that point--or else he was not
so much in the know. There was a discharged clerk named Langhorn who
accompanied Billy Graham to this house on the night of the robbery.
Langhorn must have recognized the notebook in Simon's hand during that
interview, and it was common knowledge among the clerks in the tannery
that it contained valuable matter. The police theory is that he took
advantage of Simon's absence at the fire to sneak back to the house,
enter the study and steal the book--using the dagger and carrying it
off with him afterward. He was seen talking to a man on the evening of
the murder at the corner of an alley behind the lock-up. The county
crowd think that man was Maxon, that Maxon was two-thirds drunk at
least, and that Langhorn gave him the knife and egged him on to kill
Simon. That's the gist of it."

"Um. Why should Langhorn flirt with the hangman? Discharged clerks
don't necessarily revenge themselves to that extent!"

"He wouldn't tell me if he could--and I don't believe he can!"

"There is something I don't understand," broke in Miss Ocky, frowning
thoughtfully. "Can a possibly innocent man be held just on suspicion
like that? Surely, Norvallis must have strong proofs."

"I may be doing him an injustice," answered Creighton quietly, "but I
think I have discovered the reason for Mr. Norvallis' activities. I
rather wondered why he was thrusting himself so eagerly into the
investigation instead of leaving it to the detectives. Yesterday I saw
a poster on a fence by the tannery and learned that he is up for
County-Attorney at the coming State election!" He caught a flicker of
comprehension in Jason's eye, but Miss Ocky and Krech looked blank.
"Don't you see? Here's a murder--a notable murder--committed in his
county a few weeks before election. He has to do something. Maxon
obligingly implicates