o at murder, though I
confess you don't look as though you'd have a stomach for homicide."

"I came damned near getting pinched!" asserted Archie stoutly. "The cops
back there in that town gave me a hard run for it."

Feeling that he was making an impression on the Governor he warmed to
his work.

"I was just crawling through the window of a drug store when here comes
a chap tiptoeing through the alley flashing a dark lantern, and I bolted
for the tall timber as hard as I could sprint. The fire bell rang and
the whole town woke up and I got lost running through a garden back of
one of those swell's houses on the shore. That's how I got this slash in
the face, and I'm in a pretty pickle now. There'll be a whole army
looking for me; and if your friend Hoky's been killed they'll be keen to
pinch me as another member of the gang."

The Governor listened patiently as Archie jerked this out, nervously
trying to conceal his Harvard training in the use of the English
language by resorting to such terms as he imagined bold bad men employ
in moments of mental stress.

"An amateur, I take it?" remarked the Governor with the humorous twinkle
that seemed to be habitual with him.

"Hell, no," grumbled Archie scornfully. "But I always play the game
alone; I never had any use for pals. They get in the way."

"Wrong, my boy; wrong! A good partner like me is essential to the
successful prosecution of the art or craft felonious. As for myself I
rarely venture to expose myself in these little affairs; but I advise
and counsel the brethren. I am their confidant and assist them in
innumerable ways purely for the joy of it, I assure you. Now Hoky and I
had been on the road all spring, and he made a good haul or two under my
direction; but he wouldn't let well enough alone. I warned him against
making an attempt back yonder last night. A stormy night always makes
honest householders wakeful. Take it from me, son, there couldn't be a
worse time for a burglary than a night melodious with rolling thunder.
You haven't the judgment of a month-old infant. I bought a toothbrush at
that drug store yesterday evening and there's a light right over the
safe at the end of the prescription counter. Your attempt, my son,
speaks for courage but not for discretion. You should always ask me
about such things."

"I'm sorry," replied Archie meekly, "that I didn't run into you sooner."

"The loss is mine!" cried the Governor heartily. "But let us be
pr