close
and lock the doors after I secure a few papers."

They had a talk with the chief clerk, got all the details, and the
place was then vacated and locked up.

Returning to the street the detectives strode down Broad street toward
the Battery, and the old sleuth remarked:

"He made quite a rich haul."

"As we know about where to find him," answered Harry, "we may be able
to recover the booty when we go after him."

Just then a little old man with a gray beard came waddling out of
Bridge street, clad in a blue jumper and an old felt hat.

The moment Harry saw him he sprang forward, clutched him by the arm,
swung him around, and said:

"Martin Kelly, the junk man!"

"Gosh!" exclaimed the old fellow. "Ther detectives."

"Yes, and we are going to arrest you, Martin, for your connection with
the case of the drowned man you brought to the morgue."

"What fer?" tremulously asked the old man, beginning to get frightened.

"Oh, we saw you, Ronald Mason and the coon fooling with that corpse in
your boat on the river before you brought it to the morgue, and we want
to know what you were up to."

"I'll tell, if yer don't jail me, Mr. Brady."

"That's a bargain. Out with it, then."

"Well, that there nigger was aboardin' with me. The other night him an'
me was on ther river carryin' some scrap iron from a boat where I
bought it an' we found that dead body. As soon as ther coon saw it, he
tied it to ther boat an' said he an' his boss would palm it off for
somebody else. So he went ashore an' telegraphed to Mason to fetch down
a suit of Dalton's clothes an' things to make it look as if the body
was Dalton's. When Mason come, we rowed out on the river, stripped the
corpse, put on him the things Mason brought, chucked him overboard and
I set them ashore down the river an' towed the body to the morgue where
I left it. They paid me ten dollars to keep my mouth shut about what
they done."

The Bradys were amazed.

His story cleared up a great deal of mystery and left the real fate of
Oliver Dalton a matter of doubt again.

CHAPTER X.

WHAT THE HANDWRITING EXPERT SHOWED.

Realizing the importance of Martin Kelly's confession, Harry now turned
to his partner and said, significantly:

"We'd better get what he says in the form of an affidavit."

"By all means," assented the old detective, eagerly.

"Say, yer ain't a-goin' ter do nuthin' to me, are yer?" demanded Kelly.

"Oh, no; merely going to make you