eatened him with a billet of wood picked up from the
floor.

"I reckon this story ain't goin' to do that geezer no good!" Jimmie
said, in a shrill whisper which brought smiles to the faces of his
companions.

"Sure not!" returned Frank. "This is the fourth man, and he was there
that night. Can you guess whom he will accuse?" he added, with an
eager glance at Jimmie, who promptly shook his head and came closer to
the group on the hearth.

"I had been hanging around the Cameron building for some days," Big Bob
began, feebly, "hoping to get a look at the Tolford papers. I had
bribed Scoby, and he was helping me all he could. It was for me that
he got the key to the suite made."

Seeing that the man would not be likely to survive long enough to tell
the story as he had begun, Nestor said:

"Wouldn't it answer if I asked you questions on the points we are most
interested in clearing up? We can get through quicker that way."

Big Bob nodded, and the boy asked:

"You saw Don Miguel there?"

"Yes; he was there."

"Nod or shake your head if you find your voice failing," advised
Lieutenant Gordon, and the big fellow expressed his satisfaction with
the arrangement by a look.

"Was Mr. Cameron working at his desk when you left him?"

An emphatic nod.

"Then that clears Don Miguel," said Nestor. "Who next entered the
room?"

Big Bob glanced toward Jim Scoby, still snarling at the group.

"Was Felix with him?"

"Yes; Felix and myself," was the unexpected reply.

"It is a lie!" shouted Scoby. "I never saw him that night."

"You'll see stars in a minute, if you have got a broken leg, if you
keep on interrupting!" said the secret service man, and Scoby subsided
for the time being.

"Was the door locked when you entered?"

A nod from Big bob.

"And was Mr. Cameron there, sitting with the door locked, still at work
at his desk?" was the next question.

"He was not there. He had been called away."

This was a new feature of the case, for Nestor had not considered Mr.
Cameron's absence from the room as among the possibilities.

"Was he out of the building?" he asked.

Big Bob shook his head.

"And while he was away you three entered with the false key?"

Another nod. Fremont motioned for him to go on, but Nestor laid a hand
on his shoulder.

"Let me see if I can't help you," he said. "I think I can state the
case now. You were waiting about the building to secure the Tolford
papers, and Scoby