round
the corpse, but could find nothing that pointed to a struggle. There
remained only to prove whether there had been a robbery as well as a
murder.

"Judging from the man's position the bullet must have come from that
direction," said the commissioner, pointing towards the cottages down
the lane.

"People who are killed by bullets may turn several times before they
fall," said a gentle voice behind the police officer. The voice seemed
to suit the thin little man who stood there meekly, his hat in his hand.

The commissioner turned quickly. "Ah, are you there already, Muller?"
he said, as if greatly pleased, while the physician broke in with the
remark:

"That's just what I was about to observe. This man did not die so
quickly that he could not have made a voluntary or involuntary movement
before life fled. The shot that killed him might have come from any
direction."

The commissioner nodded thoughtfully and there was silence for a
few moments. Muller--for the little thin man was none other than the
celebrated Joseph Muller, one of the most brilliant detectives in the
service of the Austrian police--looked down at the corpse carefully..
He took plenty of time to do it and nobody hurried him. For nobody ever
hurried Muller; his well-known and almost laughable thoroughness and
pedantry were too valuable in their results. It was a tradition in the
police that Muller was to have all the time he wanted for everything. It
paid in the end, for Muller made few mistakes. Therefore, his superior
the police commissioner, and the coroner waited quietly while the little
man made his inspection of the corpse.

"Thank you," said Muller finally, with a polite bow to the commissioner,
before he bent to brush away the dust on his knees.

"Well?" asked Commissioner Holzer.

Muller smiled an embarrassed smile as he replied:

"Well... I haven't found out anything yet except that he is dead, and
that he has been shot in the back. His pockets may tell us something
more."

"Yes, we can examine them at once," said the commissioner. "I have been
delaying that for I wanted you here; but I had no idea that you would
come so soon. I told them to fetch you if you were awake, but doubted
you would be, for I know you have had no sleep for forty-eight hours."

"Oh, I can sleep, at least with one eye, when I'm on the chase,"
answered the detective. "So it's really only twenty-four hours, you
see." Muller had just returned from trackin