re were tears
in his eyes, tears of fear, of rage, and of anguish.

"But, identify them," he cried, almost shrieked indeed, "identify the
three who purloined garments from my office? But no, it is impossible;
for hear me, Inspector, I never saw those individuals; not once, to my
knowledge, have I ever set eyes on them."

But if he expected pity or leniency, he might just as well have
appealed to the wooden pillar which supported the roof of the platform.
The huge police inspector was adamant, inflexible, unmoved, and
surveyed the trembling figure of his victim with cold eyes which
glinted cruelly. Very slowly, he slid one broad hand back into the
short tail of his tunic, extricated his notebook with a flourish, and,
opening it and producing a pencil, called upon the station-master to
bear witness to the words uttered.

"Mark the words of this Herr Winterborgen," he said. "'Not to my
knowledge,' he states, has he seen these three individuals; and yet,
mark this again, he was able to describe their appearance fully, to
describe the clothes they wore, their sex, and their possible
destination."

By then the eyes of the manager were almost starting out of his head,
and he was gaping and gasping with amazement at the story to which he
listened. Never before, indeed, had he imagined that anyone--let alone
a police inspector, a pillar of the law--could have invented such a
story, could have produced such a lying fabrication. The words stunned
his ears, and he felt more than ever that he was hopelessly involved in
circumstances which would end in nothing less than his utter downfall.
Nor did the hour which passed ere the train came to the station relieve
him of his fears or make him any the happier. For even if the
fugitives were captured--and it seemed more than likely that they would
be brought to the station in the train then approaching--their coming
could result in nothing but further embarrassment, for he would be
expected to identify them definitely, and if he did that he well knew
that difficulties would become greater.

"Ha! At last it is signalled, this train," said the police inspector,
"and we shall soon know whether our friends have made this capture."

"Wait, though," the station-master cautioned him, coming from his
office at that moment; "this is a special and does not stop, but behind
it, only a few minutes intervening, there is another train, the
ordinary train, which stopped at the station down