case the police commissioner would have had,
assuming that he was caught coming from Brown's farm. He could
have said that he had revenged the death of his comrades.

"He made two grave errors. The sun's rays which he used with such
murderous effect were in his eyes facing the east. The porch being
in semi-gloom, he thought perhaps that you were all there. His
second error was in overestimating the strength with which the
porch was fastened to the main building.

"The documentary proof of what I say is all there, gentlemen,
every step of it. The living proof is present, to say nothing of
the dead proof. Small things in themselves; powder marks; fresh
putty; the absence of hat fur in a watch case; an apple which was
too green, or too sour or too bitter. Small things but what an
unbreakable chain."

Epilogue

The world was good to James Hale three days later. He stayed in
bed until the sun was high in the sky. Nothing to do for nearly a
week.

As he went to the bathroom his whistling and vocal efforts vied
with the feathered songsters outside the window. As he passed
through the living-room on his way to the dining room he picked up
a letter addressed to him. The upper left hand corner of the
letter told him that it was from the Eagle. He stuffed it
carelessly into his pocket. It was probably from one or more
members of the gang at the office asking him to smuggle in some
Scotch when he came back. It could not be from Hite. Hite never
wrote letters. He spoke to his men and women verbally, by
telephone or by wire. He even did his firing that way.

He ate his breakfast alone. Matthews and Professor Brierly had
gone off somewhere. Norah was in the kitchen singing. Tommy, in
the costume with which he had been born, was outside fishing.

Jimmy pushed out the canoe onto the lake and sat there watching
Tommy. Tommy never caught anything fishing, but that never
disturbs a devotee of the Waltonian art. Tommy had his own methods
for the sport. He fished without line, hook or bait. He used
neither guile, nor any of the lures employed by fishermen. Tommy
stood there in two feet of water staring intently at the denizens
of the water darting back and forth. They could plainly be seen,
the water was clear. When one of the finny tribe hesitated near
the surface of the water Tommy would grab--a fist full of water.

Jimmy tried his blandishments and charm on Tommy without success.
Tommy had his own ideas about Jimmy.

Now Po