r promise that you'll not reveal
the source of the information."

"I'll protect you, unless you are mixed up in it to such an extent that
I'd dare not do so," Farland said. "I'm not guaranteeing to shield any
murderer or accessory."

"I had nothing to do with the murder, if that is what you mean," came
the reply.

"Then where do you want me to meet you--and when? Can you make it this
evening?"

"Yes; and suppose that you set the meeting place, one that you know will
be all right for both of us."

Farland was glad to listen to that sentence. He had half believed that
this was nothing more than a trap, that some of Sidney Prale's
mysterious enemies were attempting to lure him to some out-of-the-way
place and get him in their power. But if he was to be allowed to name
the meeting place, it seemed to indicate that everything was all right
in that regard.

Farland though a moment, and then suggested a certain famous restaurant
on Broadway and a table in a corner of the main room, where a man could
lose himself in the crowd. But that did not meet with the approval of
the man at the other end of the telephone wire.

"Nothing doing in that place," he said. "One of the men interested in
this thing hangs out there almost every evening. He'd be sure to see us,
he knows how much I know about it, and he'd suspect things in a second
if he saw me talking to you. Then it'd be made hot for me. I've got to
protect myself, of course."

"Suggest a place yourself," Farland said.

"Make it outside somewhere. How about some place in Riverside Park?"

"Suits me," Farland replied.

The man at the other end of the wire gave the directions after much
seeming speculation and many changes. Jim Farland was to go to Grant's
Tomb, and from there to a certain place near the river. The other man
would be in the neighborhood watching, he said, would recognize Farland
as he passed the Tomb, and then would follow and speak to him when
nobody else was near.

Farland agreed, and made the engagement for an hour and a half later,
saying that he could not get there before that time. It would not be the
first time that Jim Farland had obtained an important clew because
somebody interested had grown disgruntled and had turned against his
pals; and he supposed this to be a case of that sort.

Before leaving home, Farland made sure that his automatic was in
excellent condition, and that he had his handcuffs and electric torch
and other paraphernal