him
had flared up again.

"Insane he was," agreed Wilton Barnstable. "And shortly after that
discovery was made, he disappeared. The next day after his
disappearance, Dopey Eddie and Izzy the Cat were liberally supplied
with money.

"Of course they got the money, Lady Agatha, through the clever trick
they worked upon you."

"A great many people have got money from me since I have been in
America," said Lady Agatha.

"Ah! Yes?" The great detective went on with his masterly summing up.
"Of course they got the money from the trick they worked on Lady
Agatha. But at the time I thought it possible that they had robbed
Reginald Maltravers and then put him out of the way. They are
well-known gunmen.

"I took them into custody and determined to hold them until such time
as Reginald Maltravers would be found, or his fate discovered.
Eventually I brought them with me on my house boat. I was really
holding them without due legal warrant, but I am forced to do that,
sometimes. They complained of lack of exercise, so I gave them
exercise in the manner which you saw the other morning, Mr. Cleggett.

"One of my agents, shortly after this, picked up the trail of Reginald
Maltravers again. When I learned that he was alive my first impulse
was to release Dopey Eddie and Izzy the Cat. But I learned that the
two gunmen could, if they would, give me a tip as to certain of the
activities of Logan Black, against whom I have been collecting evidence
for nearly a year. So I kept them on my boat.

"Reginald Maltravers, most of the time that you were riding about the
country, Lady Agatha, with the box that you thought contained him, was
really following you. He would lose your trail and find it again, but
he was always some hours behind you. Of course, he knew nothing of the
oblong box. He thought that you were running away from him. And all
the time that Reginald Maltravers was following you, agents of mine
were following Reginald Maltravers."

"Lady Agatha," interrupted Cleggett, "was also being pursued by Miss
Pringle here."

Wilton Barnstable carefully made a note in a little book which he drew
from his waistcoat pocket. Barton Ward also made a note in a little
book, Watson Bard started to make a note, and then paused; in fact,
Watson Bard did not complete his note until he had gotten a peep into
the notebook of Barton Ward. The notes made, the three detectives once
more smiled craftily at each other, and Wilton Barn