llie--a look large with menace.

"Honest, Paw," pleaded the boy. "I was a-scairt to tell you, 'cause he
said he'd kill me ef I told."

Jeb scratched his head. "Yew know what you'll get ef you're lyin' to
me," he threatened.

"I believe he's telling the truth," said detective Burton. "Where is the
man now?" he asked Willie.

"Down to the Squibbs' place," and Willie jerked a dirty thumb toward the
east.

"Not now," said Burton; "we just came from there; but there has been
someone there this morning, for there is still a fire in the kitchen
range. Does anyone live there?"

"I should say not," said Willie emphatically; "the place is haunted."

"Thet's right," interjected Jeb. "Thet's what they do say, an' this here
Oskaloosie Kid said they heered things las' night an' seed a dead man on
the floor, didn't he M'randy?" M'randy nodded her head.

"But I don't take no stock in what Willie's ben tellin' ye," she
continued, "'n' ef his paw don't lick him I will. I told him tell I'm
good an' tired o' talkin' thet one liar 'round a place wuz all I could
stand," and she cast a meaning glance at her husband.

"Honest, Maw, I ain't a-lyin'," insisted Willie. "Wot do you suppose
he give me this fer, if it wasn't to keep me from talkin'," and the boy
drew a crumpled one dollar bill from his pocket. It was worth the dollar
to escape a thrashing.

"He give you thet?" asked his mother. Willie nodded assent.

"'N' thet ain't all he had neither," he said. "Beside all them bills he
showed me a whole pocket full o' jewlry, 'n' he had a string o' things
thet I don't know jest what you call 'em; but they looked like they
was made outen the inside o' clam shells only they was all round like
marbles."

Detective Burton raised his eyebrows. "Miss Prim's pearl necklace," he
commented to the man at his side. The other nodded. "Don't punish your
son, Mrs. Case," he said to the woman. "I believe he has discovered a
great deal that will help us in locating the man we want. Of course I am
interested principally in finding Miss Prim--her father has engaged me
for that purpose; but I think the arrest of the perpetrators of any of
last night's crimes will put us well along on the trail of the missing
young lady, as it is almost a foregone conclusion that there is a
connection between her disappearance and some of the occurrences which
have so excited Oakdale. I do not mean that she was a party to any
criminal act; but it is more than possible