house.

"He seized the opportunity which Beard offered. At the most he had two
years and six months to serve. By good behavior he could reduce the term
to a trifle less than two years. When he got out, his future comfort was
assured. Five thousand a year looked colossal to him--in the most
hopeful period of his advancing manhood he had never been able to earn
above two thousand a year.

"The day before Whitmore started for prison the trust fund was
established and the interest began to accumulate for Timson. So that on
the day he leaves prison, he'll have ten thousand dollars with which to
begin to enjoy life."

"That is, if he is not sent away for ten years for aiding and abetting
the escape of Whitmore, alias Travis," interrupted the chief.

"Well, I sort of pity him," replied Britz. "The warden was present, of
course, when he made the confession. Timson can get out of jail on a
writ of habeas corpus. Of course, he'll be rearrested immediately and
tried, with the deputy marshal, for having brought about the escape of
the man that was sentenced to prison. However, if Timson can be of
service to us in unraveling the Whitmore mystery, we might arrange with
the Federal authorities to grant him immunity."

"Do you think we can use him?" inquired the chief.

"Yes, in fact we need him," replied Britz.

"It is certainly a most astounding state of affairs," mused Manning. "I
suppose by this time the deputy marshal has cleared out."

"It doesn't concern us whether he has or not," said Britz. "His case is
up to the Federal authorities."

"But when and where was the substitution made?" asked the chief.

"On board the train to Atlanta," Britz informed him. "Whitmore was
handcuffed to the marshal when they left the Tombs. They occupied a
stateroom on one of the through parlor cars. It is unusual for a deputy
to engage a stateroom, or to permit his prisoner to engage one, but no
law is violated by doing so. All that is required of the deputy is to
deliver his prisoner at the jail and obtain a receipt for him.

"The substitute followed the deputy and the prisoner into the
compartment, the handcuffs were slipped from Whitmore's wrist to
Timson's, and, at Philadelphia, Whitmore left the train. It is now up to
us to trace his movements from the time he alighted at Philadelphia
until he walked to his death in his office."

A long interval of silence followed, in which the three men tried to
appraise the precise value of the