: "Some wan
wanted me t' search th' house here t' see did Snooksy have sivin
bottles iv beer an' a silver beer-opener in his room."

Philo Gubb sat on the ladder and contemplated the five-dollar bill
until he heard Fogarty returning.

"Hist!" Fogarty said. "I did not see him, mind ye!"

Fogarty slipped out of the back door and was gone, and Philo Gubb,
after a thoughtful moment, decided that the five-dollar bill was
rightfully his, and slipped it into his pocket. To earn it, however,
he must get to work on the case. He raised the pasted strip of paper,
but before he could place the loose end on the ceiling, some one
tapped at the kitchen door.

"Come in!" he called, and the door opened.

"Slippery" Williams glided into the room. His crafty eyes sought Philo
Gubb.

"'Lo, Gubby! Watcha doin' up there? Where's Miss Turner?" he asked.

"Miss Turner is out on business, I presume," said the Correspondence
School detective coldly, "and I am pursuing my professional duties in
the deteckating line."

"Yar, hey?" said Slippery. "Who you detectin' for now?"

"Snooks Turner," said Philo Gubb. "I'm solving a case for him."

Instantly Slippery's manner changed. From rough he became smooth. From
bold he became cringing.

"Why, I'm Snooksy's friend," he said. "You know me and Snooksy was
always chums, don't you, Gubby? Yes, sir, I think a lot of Snooksy. He
says, 'Slippery, you go up to my room and get me a bundle of clean
clothes--these are all torn and dirty, and--' Well, I guess I'll get
'em, and get back. Snooks is waitin' for me."

He turned to the hall, but Philo Gubb called him back.

"You can't go up there," said Philo Gubb, from his ladder-top.
"There's been enough folks up there already."

"Who was up?" asked Slippery hastily.

"Policeman Fogarty was," said Philo Gubb.

"What'd he find up there?" asked Slippery anxiously.

"Nothin'," said Philo Gubb. "He told me he couldn't find seven bottles
of beer and a beer-opener."

"Look here!" said Slippery sweetly. "If I gave you five dollars to
hire you to hunt for them, could you find them seven bottles of beer
and that beer-opener, for me? Straight detective work? Could you?"

"I could try to find them," said Philo Gubb.

"Well, that's all I want," said Slippery. "I don't want to do nothin'
with them. All I want to know is--where are they? Here's five
dollars."

Philo Gubb took the money.

"All right," said Slippery, "now, you find them. They're upstair