get rid of Shay. I know he is alive, and we must
find him. We have one month to do it, Jim. We must find him."

Jim shook his head. "We've tried hard enough already. We've examined
every corpse taken out of the river or exposed at the morgue."

"Well; doesn't that help to prove that he is alive?"

"We've advertised and notified every police station in the country," Jim
continued.

"They don't want to find him, Jim; they're on the other side."

"I don't know what else to do."

"Jim, I've read enough and seen enough of human nature to know that, if
Squeaks is alive, he's not hiding in California or Florida or London;
he's right here in South Ward where he can watch things. It's my belief,
Jim, that he's been in the court room watching the trial."

Jim shook his head; but she went on. "This much I'm sure; he would hang
around his former haunts, and we should leave nothing undone to find
him."

They went first to Shay's attorney, but he dismissed the idea as
chimerical, so they dropped him from their plans. Together they set to
work, with little hope indeed, but it was at least better to be up and
doing. Judge Squeaks's office was small, easily entered and productive
of nothing. The police would give no information and seemed little
interested in the new theory. Squeaks's lodgings yielded nothing new,
but they found that Belle's theory was right; he had also had a room on
the floor above. The woman in the gray cloak had called on him once or
twice in the previous month and had come once since. She was a sort of
janitress, as she had a key and straightened up his room. There was no
hint of help in this. There was only one of his haunts that they had not
thoroughly examined, that was the club. There was no need for that, as
they knew every one that came and went, at least by sight.

Mrs. Hartigan was sitting in the club office at the back of the building
next day when Skystein came in, and sat down to go over some club
letters, officially addressed to him. As he read he made a note on each
and sorted them into three neat piles. Belle watched him with interest
that was a little tinged with shame. It is so human to consider a man
inferior if he does not speak your language fluently, and the early
impression they had gotten of Skystein gave them a sense of lofty pity.
But it did not last. At every board meeting they had found reason to
respect the judgment and worldly knowledge of the little Hebrew; those
keen black e