y and Nels, who crept
with it along the gutter and passed it through the attic window.
Marsh and Morgan followed them, and under the glow of the one dim
electric light, the two men made a hasty examination of the body. It
was in a fair state of preservation, due probably to the cold air,
which had been made especially effective by the draft through the
chimney. The identification was made certain when Marsh extracted a
card case from the man's coat, in which they found the business and
personal cards of Richard Townsend Merton, and Morgan located the
duplicate of the cuff button he had discovered in the empty
apartment.

The examination completed, Marsh turned to Morgan.

"Do you notice that this man was stabbed, not shot?" he asked.

"Yes," returned Morgan. "That was one of the things I looked to make
certain of."

"Now," said Marsh, addressing the two detectives, "I guess this job
has warmed you fellows up. We can't lose another minute. You,
Tierney, make a careful examination of this attic. It should not
take you long, and you can then join Morgan, who will start now to
make an examination of the second and third floors. Nels and I will
look over the first floor and the basement. You join us as soon as
you get through. If you find anything worth while, bring it down."

Leaving Tierney in the attic, and dropping Morgan off at the third
floor, Marsh and Nels passed on down to the first floor of the
house. A careful inspection of this floor brought nothing of
especial interest to light except that there were no signs of its
having been used. The kitchen and the pantry were bare of food, and
Marsh could see that neither of the sinks in the pantry and the
kitchen, nor the kitchen stove, had been used for a long time.

"I thought you said those men were living in the house," he queried,
turning to Nels.

"So Aye tenk," Nels assured him.

"Queer," murmured Marsh. "No fire, no food, and no signs of
cooking."

"Mebbe in basement," suggested Nels.

"Well, we're going there now," said Marsh. "Do you know the way,
Nels?"

"Aye guess," replied the Swede, leading the way into a long hall
that led from the pantry along one side of the house. A short
distance up this hall Nels opened a door, and they discovered a
stairway leading into the basement. Marsh lit a match and located an
electric switch. When he turned this a light flashed on below and
they descended the stairs. Here they found a hall leading across the
ho