"I'm sorry, sir," replies the boy. "I was faithful to orders--but things
have gone wrong."

"How, my boy?"

"The man you call Burrill was murdered last night."

"Ah!"

"Yes, sir, and I _might_ have known who did it. This is the way it went,
sir: I kept an eye on all of your men as well as I could, during the
day, and kept the widest eye on the short fellow with the tramp lay-out
and the ugly face. That was easy, for he lay low all day; so I managed
to get around here two or three times during the afternoon, and I found
that Mr. Belknap was laying low, too. He staid in and about the hotel
all day, and, I think, all the evening. At night the tramp fellow began
to show signs of life, and I piped him close. Early in the evening, at
dusk, in fact, he went over the river and out toward Mapleton; on the
way he met Burrill coming to town, and he faced about and stalked him
back. Burrill lounged about a good bit, and then he went to the saloon
you pointed out to me; some fellows were waiting there for him, and they
got about a table and carried things high, drinking every five minutes.
My man kept a close look on the saloon, and seemed uneasy all the time;
once he went in, and drank two beers, but he did not venture near
Burrill and his party. By and by, I think it must have been ten o'clock
or later, Burrill came out from the saloon alone; he was very drunk, and
staggered as he walked away. He turned south, and my man came out, as I
supposed, to follow. But, instead, he took a short cut to the bridge
and crossed over, hiding himself in the low hedge on the other side. He
staid there until almost morning, and then he seemed to be disgusted, or
discouraged, or both. I staid close by, and tracked him back to his
roost! Then I turned in to get a little rest myself. I was out early,
and looked first after my man; he was out too, prowling about uneasily.
He went to the saloon, and seemed inclined to loaf there a bit; so I
went to look after Mr. Belknap. He was not visible, and so I lounged
about, as it was too wet to get out my wares. Well, it was not long
before my man came out from old 'Forty Rods,' and started out on the
south road, and I kept on behind him, and before we had gone far we met
a party of excited men, gathered about the mayor's house, and learned
that a murder had been committed. We fell in with the crowd, and went
out to the place where the body lay. It was in an empty lot, right next
to Doctor Heath's cottage