r badge nor a false mustache nowhere. I'm going to
turn you right over to the police to-morrow morning."

"To the police!" exclaimed Mr. Witzel. "Don't do that! Whatever you
do, don't do that!" And suddenly, like a nervous dyspeptic suddenly
overwrought, Mr. Witzel broke down and, falling on the cot, began to
sob. Philo Gubb looked at him a moment with amazement. Then he dug a
pair of handcuffs out of his trunk and, walking to where Mr. Witzel
lay, prodded him in the back with the muzzle of the pistol. Mr. Witzel
turned quickly, rolling over like an eel.

"Stop it! You're tickling me. I can't stand tickling!" he cried. "I--I
can't stand lots of things. I'm--I'm the most sensitive man in the
world. I--I can't stand cold water at all."

"Well, nobody is cold-watering you," said Philo Gubb. "Handcuffs ain't
cold water."

"But cold water is," said Mr. Witzel. "Cold water kills me! It makes
me shiver, and turn blue, and goose-fleshy, and gives me cramps in the
palms of my hands and the soles of my feet. I--listen: my doctor says
cold baths will kill me. The shock of 'em. Bad heart, you understand."

Philo Gubb's eyes blinked.

"I'll tell _you_," said Mr. Witzel, grasping Mr. Gubb's hand. "I can't
_stand_ cold baths. They'd kill me, you understand. It would be
suicide! So--so I knew Billy Gribble. Didn't I set him up in business
here, to get rid of him? Don't he owe me a good turn?"

"Does he?" asked Philo Gubb.

"Hasn't he two bathrooms in connection with his laundry. 'Hot and Cold
Baths, All hours. Ladies Tuesdays and Wednesdays Only?'" asked Mr.
Witzel. "Mr. Gubb, I will be frank. I am Custer Master!"

[Illustration: THE MISSING MR. MASTER]

"The reward for who--for who the reward," said Philo Gubb, seeking a
grammatical form that would sound right, "for information as to
which five thousand dollars reward is offered!"

"Exactly!" said Mr. Master. "And I will make it six thousand if you do
not give information. I admit I am Master. I am Custer Master. Here,
read this!"

He reached for his vest and from the pocket took a slip of paper. It
was typewritten and headed "Secret Stipulation Regarding Custer Master
Clause of Orlando J. Higgins Will. Copy":--

Being a firm believer in the efficacy of cold baths for the
cure of dyspepsia and having been laughed at for same by my
nephew, Custer Master, and feeling that a course of ice-cold
baths would cure him, I make it a part of my will and