dn't want no one
shadowin' you when you was on a trail, would you, Gubby?"

"No, I don't feel like I would," admitted Philo Gubb.

"That's right," said Pie-Wagon Pete approvingly. "An' when these here
dynamite gools is the kind of murderers they is, an' me and Joe is
expectin' to be murdered by them any minute, it makes Joe nervous to
be follered an' spied on, don't it, Joe?"

"You bet," said Joe. "I'm liable to turn an' maller up anybody I see
sneakin' on me. I can't take chances."

"So you won't interfere with Joe in the pursoot of his dooty no more,
will you, Gubby?" said Pie-Wagon Pete.

"I don't aim to interfere with nobody, Peter," said Philo Gubb. "I
just want to pursoo my own dooty, as I see it. I won't foller Mr.
Henry no more, if he don't like it; but I got a dooty to do, as a full
graduate of the Rising Sun Deteckative Agency's Correspondence School
of Deteckating. I got to do my level best to catch them dynamiters
myself."

Joe Henry frowned, and Pie-Wagon Pete shook his head.

"If you'll take my advice, Gubby," he said, "you'll drop that case
right here an' now. You don't know what dangerous characters them
gools are. If they start to get you--"

"You want to read that book--'The Pale Avengers'--I just gave you,"
said Billy Getz, "and then you'll know more."

"Well, I won't interfere with you, Mr. Henry," said Philo Gubb. "But
I'll do my dooty as I see it. Fear don't frighten me. The first words
in Lesson One is these: 'The deteckative must be a man devoid of
fear.' I can't go back on that. If them gools want to kill me, I can't
object. Deteckating is a dangerous employment, and I know it."

He went out and closed the door.

"There," said Pie-Wagon Pete. "Ain't that better than beatin' him up?"

"Maybe," said Joe Henry grudgingly. "Chances are--he's such a
dummy--he'll go right ahead follerin' me. He needs a good scare
thrown into him."

Billy Getz slid from his stool and ran his hands deep into his
pockets, jingling a few coins and a bunch of keys.

"Want me to scare him?" he asked pleasantly.

"Say! You can do it, too!" said Joe Henry eagerly. "You're the feller
that can kid him to death. Go ahead. If you do, I'll give you a case
of Six Star. Ain't that so, Pete?"

"Absolutely," said Pie-Wagon.

"That's a bet," said Billy Getz pleasantly. "Leave it to the Kidders."

Philo Gubb went straight to his room at the Widow Murphy's, and having
taken off his shoes and coat, leaned back in hi