th the reminder
that he must not begin theorizing until he had learned all the facts.

Having gazed at the gruesome sight until he had impressed its every
detail on his memory, he turned to his assistant. "Get ahead with your
flashlight, Kirby," he ordered. "Take views from all the angles you can.
The constable will give you a hand. Meantime, sergeant, give me an idea
of the case. What does the driver say?"

"He's here, sir," the officer returned, pointing to a small, slight
individual in a leather coat and cap, with a sallow, frightened face and
pathetic, dog-like eyes which fixed themselves questioningly on Willis's
face as the sergeant led their owner forward.

"You might tell me what you know, driver."

The man shifted nervously from one foot to the other.

"It was this way, sir," he began. He spoke earnestly, and to Willis, who
was accustomed to sizing up rapidly those with whom he dealt, he seemed
a sincere and honest man. "I was driving down Piccadilly from Hyde Park
Corner looking out for a fare, and when I gets just by the end of Bond
Street two men hails me. One was this here man what's dead, the other
was a big, tall gent. I pulls in to the curb, and they gets in, and the
tall gent he says 'King's Cross.' I starts off by Piccadilly Circus and
Shaftesbury Avenue, but when I gets into Tottenham Court Road about the
corner of Great Russell Street, one of them says through the tube, 'Let
me down here at the corner of Great Russell Street,' he sez. I pulls
over to the curb, and the tall gent he gets out and stands on the curb
and speaks in to the other one. Then I shall follow by the three o'clock
tomorrow,' he sez, and he shuts the door and gives me a bob and sez,
'That's for yourself,' he sez, 'and my friend will square up at the
station,' he sez. I came on here, and when this here man opens the
door," he indicated a porter standing by, "why, the man's dead. And
that's all I knows about it."

The statement was made directly and convincingly, and Willis frowned as
he thought that such apparently simple cases proved frequently to be the
most baffling in the end. In his slow, careful way he went over in his
mind what he had heard, and then began to try for further details.

"At what time did you pick up the men?" he inquired.

"About half past seven, or maybe twenty to eight"

"Did you see where they were coming from?"

"No, sir. They were standing on the curb, and the tall one he holds up
his hand for m