of his hand.

"That will do for the present, Terry," said he. "I may want to ask you
some more questions afterwards. Don't mention to any of the clerks
what I've been asking you, or what you have told me. Just keep your
own counsel. Do you understand?"

When Terry went out, the two men consulted earnestly together. From
the signs left by the thief, whoever he was, it seemed clear that he
had a complete knowledge of the premises. He had apparently entered
the warehouse by a back window, which in his haste he had forgotten to
close after him, broken open the desk with a large chisel, taken
nothing except the bag, and made off in the same way that he had come.

Terry's confession as to telling his mother of the bag was, to say the
least, suggestive. Black Mike had not much reputation to lose.
According to the popular opinion of him, he would have small scruples
about taking the bag. Of course he could not be arrested upon mere
suspicion. Some more substantial grounds than that would have to be
found. But, in the meantime, he was worth watching, and accordingly it
was decided to engage a detective to "shadow" him, in the hope of
obtaining further proof.

When Terry came out of Mr. Drummond's office, Mr. Hobart took him
aside, and questioned him as to what he knew of the affair; and Terry
told him as much as he could without disobeying Mr. Drummond's
injunctions.

His listener did not make any comments, although in his mind there
arose the same thought that had occurred to the partners.

Terry's quick instinct told him there was something significant in his
story which had made an impression on the members of the firm and upon
Mr. Hobart. Yet, strange to say, its actual import did not occur to
him at the time. Indeed he was too deeply troubled with the fear lest
he himself should be in some way regarded as an accomplice in the
robbery, to speculate much as to who really might be the guilty one.

He saw nothing of his father all day. Black Mike had not shown up for
work, and the foreman took it for granted he was off on a spree. But
for the fact that after a holiday of this kind he always seemed
determined to atone for his absence by increased exertion, and would
positively do the work of two ordinary men, thanks to his enormous
strength, his name would not have stood upon the Long Wharf pay-roll at
all. As it was, he received wages for the time he actually worked, and
seemed quite content with the arra