part."

"Know anything about a woman calling herself Kate Gilbert?"

"Never heard of her."

Farland explained what Prale had told him. The captain fingered his
mustache.

"Several thousand women in this town answer that general description,"
he said. "I'm afraid I can't help you, unless you can pick her up."

"That's what I'll do as soon as I can," Farland replied. "If I can get
my eyes on her once, I'll trail her and find out a few things. She may
have nothing to do with this, and she may have a great deal to do with
it. What do you know about George Lerton?"

"Shady broker," the captain replied. "Never done anything outside the
law, as far as I know, but he's come pretty close to it. I'd hate to
have him handling my money."

"Well, he lied about meeting Prale. He did his best to get Prale to run
away from town. That was a couple of hours before the murder, of course,
so it probably had nothing to do with that. But why should he try to get
Prale out of town? And, being a man of that sort, why did he say that he
wouldn't handle Prale's funds? You'd think a man of his sort would like
nothing better than to get his fingers tangled up in that million."

"I'll have a man take a look at George Lerton."

"Don't strain yourself," said Jim Farland. "I'm going to take a look at
him myself, the first thing to-morrow morning."

He left headquarters with Murk, and this time he did not engage a
taxicab. He walked up the street, Murk at his side, and puffed at a
cigar furiously.

"Well, Murk, we've made a good start," Farland said, after a time.

"Yes, sir."

"How do you like working with a detective now?"

"Aw, you ain't a regular detective," Murk said.

"What's that?"

"I mean you ain't an ordinary dick. You got some sense."

"Thanks for the compliment. I know men who would dispute the statement,"
Farland told him.

They walked and walked, and after a time were on Fifth Avenue and going
toward the hotel where Prale had his suite. Suddenly, just ahead of
them, they saw Sidney Prale and the man from headquarters. They hurried
to catch up with them.

"What's the idea?" Farland asked.

"Needed a walk," Prale replied. "Didn't feel like going to bed, and a
walk would do me good, I knew."

"I'll have some things to tell you in the morning," Farland said. "But
I'm not going to tell you to-night, except to say that it is good news,
and I'm issuing orders to Murk not to tell you, either. I want you to
forget the