gate and walk--walk--walk--but no home. Aye hear
auto com'n'--get out of de road. Et pass me--stop." Nels lowered his
voice to a whisper. "Aye bane nowhere near home--in front bad place.
Men turn on lights--CARRY DEAD MAN IN HOUSE!"

"How did you know he was dead?" exclaimed Marsh.

"He all loose--so," and Nels endeavored to illustrate by allowing
his body to droop limply.

"Then what?"

"Car put in gar-rage--all quiet. Aye get scared. Aye see clear
now--Aye run like hell!"

"That's all you know, is it, Nels?" asked Marsh.

"All now--but Aye watch."

"You're a good man, Nels--real smart," said Marsh. "Here's some more
money for you. Maybe I'll come to see you again."

"You bane fine man," grinned Nels, as he pocketed the additional
bill.

"Good-bye, Nels," said Marsh, "Better not tell anybody about our
talk. Your wife might hear about it."

Nels winked knowingly and they parted, Marsh going directly to the
station of the electric line and returning to Chicago.

As he approached his apartment, Marsh saw a heavily built man
lounging on the steps and chatting with the policeman on duty. Marsh
paid no attention to this man, merely nodding to the policeman as he
passed, and climbed the stairs to his apartment. But after he had
unlocked the door he stood in the hall instead of entering.
Presently the man came up the stairs and they entered the apartment
together. As soon as the door closed the man said, "I've got that
dope for you." He pulled out a long envelope and handed it to Marsh.

"Thanks," said Marsh as he took the envelope. "Things are shaping
themselves fine."

"Anything I can do?" asked the man.

"Nothing now," answered Marsh, "but you had better have several men
where we can reach them in a hurry. How is Oak Street?"

"No change," was the reply. "Hasn't left the house all day." With
that the man opened the door and left.

Marsh opened the envelope. It contained the black leather notebook,
a letter, and some typewritten sheets. He sat down and read the
letter.

The solution of the cipher code used in the notebook submitted,
was comparatively simple and we were able to work it
out here. This code was evidently not intended for the
transmission of secret messages; it was very probably used
exclusively to make notations in this book with the sole idea
of maintaining privacy for these memoranda.

Due to the simplicity of the code, it could be easily memorized