se her to fool him
over there; then he took the chances to kill him to get the money.
No! Ferris is only a snake in the grass, a coward, and a cur! He
fastened on Clayton as a friend, and got in between him and Mr.
Worthington; but, he never saw Fritz Braun!"

The boy's tone was convincing. "Then you let Braun know how easily
he could steal a fortune by getting hold of Clayton on his way to
the bank!" roughly accused McNerney.

"Not me; never, on your life," defiantly answered Emil. "It may
have been Lilienthal, for Mr. Wade was often in that 'back room'
of his. Old Wade is a 'dead easy game,' soft on the ladies, and
Lilienthal may have pumped him and so put the job up with Braun."

The recital of Lilienthal and Braun's illicit trading made Dennis
McNerney's eyes gleam.

When the three men left the yacht at sunset, the policeman called
Einstein into a corner. "See here," he said. "I've got your mother
locked up in my charge. She is a decentish sort of woman, in her
way, and she loves you, you young brute. See if you can remember
anything more in your yacht cruise of a month.

"Officer Condon will treat you well. You may clear your mother and
yourself; you may get Timmins' evidence for us to break up this
smuggling gang. There'll be a big reward there! I will see that you
don't suffer. Give the whole business up to Officer Condon. When
it is safe, you'll be taken ashore."

Emil Einstein, watching the boat going ashore, felt a choking throb
in his throat. "That fellow McNerney's a smart devil," he said.
"He is on the right trail, and there'll be a fight for life when
he rounds up Fritz. He is going after his blood. And Fritz will
never be taken alive!"

The stars were peacefully shining down on New York City, three days
later, when Miss Alice Worthington bade adieu to Doctor Atwater.
The mystery of Randall Clayton's murder had passed into a worn-out
sensation, and new crimes, new names, new faces, filled the flaring
journals. The firm hand of Witherspoon was at the helm of the
Trading Company, and even Adolph Lilienthal had forgotten his fears.

The Clayton affair had been all threshed out! It had been tacitly
arranged between the friends that Witherspoon should watch over
Miss Worthington's peace of mind, while Atwater went upon the quest
led by the resolute McNerney.

Far away under the shadows of the Katzen Gebirge, on this summer
evening, Mr. August Meyer, dogging Irma Gluyas' every footstep,
sec