noitering glance at my companion.

"Gentlemen," I said with a wave of my hand toward Terry, "let me
introduce Mr. Terence Kirkwood Patten, the well-known detective of New
York, who has come down to look into this matter for us."

The chairs which were tipped back against the wall came down with a
thud, and an awed and somewhat uneasy shuffling of feet ensued.

"I wish to go through the cave," Terry remarked in the crisp, incisive
tones a detective might be supposed to employ, "and I should like to
have the same guide who conducted Mr. Crosby the time the body was
discovered."

"That's Pete Moser, he's out in the back lot plowin'," a half dozen
voices responded.

"Ah, thank you; will some one kindly call him? We will wait here."

Terry proceeded with his usual ease to make himself at home. He tipped
back his hat, inclined his chair at the same dubious angle as the
others, and ranged his feet along the railing. He produced cigars from
various pockets, and the atmosphere became less strained. They were
beginning to realize that detectives are made of the same flesh and
blood as other people. I gave Terry the lead--perhaps it would be more
accurate to say that he took it--but it did not strike me that he set
about his interviewing in a very business-like manner. He did not so
much as refer to the case we had come to investigate, but chatted along
pleasantly about the weather and the crops and the difficulty of finding
farm-hands.

We had not been settled very long when, to my surprise, Jim Mattison
strolled out from the bar-room. What he was doing in Luray, I could
easily conjecture. Mattison's assumption of interest in the case all
along had angered me beyond measure. It is not, ordinarily, a part of
the sheriff's duties to assist the prosecution in making out a case
against one of his prisoners; and owing to the peculiar relation he bore
to Radnor, his interference was not only bad law but excruciatingly bad
taste. My dislike of the man had grown to such an extent that I could
barely be civil to him. It was only because it was policy on my part
not to make him an active enemy that I tolerated his presence at all.

I presented Terry; though Mattison took his calling more calmly than the
others, still I caught several sidewise glances in his direction, and I
think he was impressed.

"Happy to know you, Mr. Patten," he remarked as he helped himself to a
chair and settled it at the general angle. "This is a pretty m