ed Young. "He may get away from us if
we don't, drunk as he is."

"No, there's time enough for that," objected the colonel. "What I was
going to say is that we must take one thing at a time. Otherwise we'll
get into a tangle."

"I think we're in one now," said Young. "For the life of me I can't
figure out who did the killing, and the only reason I said we ought to
arrest Harry King is because there's some game on between him and
Larch, and those diamonds King is trying to dispose of may be part of
some of those Mrs. Darcy had, and about which she never said anything.
If King took them, he may have killed the old lady and he ought to be
locked up and take his chance with Darcy."

"If he did it--yes," admitted the colonel. "But I haven't said he
_did_. I haven't said Larch did it. I just don't know. Certainly
King and Larch have been pretty thick of late, and Larch's bailing
Harry out showed there was more than mere friendliness in it. And, as
you say, Jack, if King or Larch sold some loose diamonds, it looks as
though there was something wrong. But we don't want to make a mistake."

"If we don't do something pretty soon they'll so fasten this crime on
Jimmie Darcy that you'll never be able to get him out of the tangle,"
said Mr. Kettridge, as he poked a pair of pliers among the parts of the
watch. "Carroll and Thong, now that they know about the electrical
wires, think they have all the evidence they need, and the prosecutor
agrees with them, I guess."

"Still, we may be able to combat that," observed the colonel. "Now let
me understand you about this watch, Mr. Kettridge. You don't believe
Darcy ever put that poison needle arrangement in it?"

"No, I don't. That mechanism was built into the watch after it was
originally made, I'm sure. But even so it was done a number of years
ago. I can tell that by the type of small screws used. They don't
make that kind in this country. Darcy never could have got possession
of any, to say nothing of some of the other parts used."

Following some days of strenuous work after Amy Mason had expressed her
belief in her lover's innocence in spite of the finding of the electric
wires, and had urged the detective to use every endeavor to clear
Darcy, the colonel had summoned Mr. Kettridge to hold a sort of autopsy
over the Indian watch which was still in possession of the old
detective. With the suicide of the East Indian the case had been
dropped by Donovan and t