nd I can't keep away from the scene of my crime," he said. "I come
back here time after time--"

"Did you do the murder here?" asked P. Gubb with increased interest.

[Illustration: "A DETECKATIVE LIKE YOU ARE OUGHTN'T TO NEED
TWENTY-FIVE CENTS SO BAD AS THAT"]

"That's what I did," said Chi Foxy. "I did it here. Take me down to
the lock-up. Me and you can hold me all right."

"It's somewhat out of the ordinary common run for a feller to be a
deteckative and the criminal murderer he's chasing both at once," said
P. Gubb doubtfully.

"That's so, ain't it?" agreed Chi Foxy. "It looks that way. But facts
are facts, ain't they?"

"Quite occasionally they are such," agreed P. Gubb.

"That's right," said Chi Foxy. "And all you've got to do is to explain
them. You see, bo, I was a young feller when I murdered this old
miser--"

"What did you say his name was?" asked P. Gubb.

"Smith," said Chi Foxy promptly. "John J. Smith, and he lived right
here in this town. And I murdered the old feller and got away. Nobody
cared much whether the old feller was murdered or not, and nothin'
much might have been said of it except that the old feller had a
nephew. His name was Smith--Peter P. Smith."

"What did he do?" asked P. Gubb.

"He offered a reward of a thousand dollars," said Chi Foxy. "It was
one of them unsolved mystery cases--one of them cases that never get
solved because no detective is smart enough to solve it. Nobody knew
who killed old John J. Smith but me, and I wasn't going around telling
it."

"I should think not," said P. Gubb.

"No, sir!" said Chi Foxy. "So I was as safe as a babe unborn. I
skipped up the river to Minneapolis, and nobody thought of lookin' for
me, because I wasn't suspected. And then I did a fool thing."

"Murderers 'most always does," said P. Gubb.

"Sure!" said Chi Foxy. "I thought I'd go to New Orleans. It was all
right--nice trip--until we got to Dubuque, and then what happened? The
old steamboat blew up. I went sailin' up in the air like one of these
here skyrockets, I did, and when I come down I lit head first."

"It is a remarkable wonder it didn't kill you to death," said P. Gubb.

"Ain't it?" said Chi Foxy. "But it did worse than kill me. It knocked
my senses out of me. When I come to I didn't know what had happened. I
didn't remember a thing out of my past--not a thing. I was like a
newborn babe. I didn't have an idea or a memory left in me. When they
picked me up and I ope