at conclusions. Have Delaney and I
erred--as once or twice before?"

The bird strutted about the cage. It pecked at a hard, white fish-bone,
thrust between two bars. It dipped its bill into the water-holder, then
held high its head as it gulped. It switched its tail and hopped onto
the first perch. There it sat, with coiled claws, as Drew leaned
closer.

"Ah, Sing!" he repeated confidentially. "Ah, Singing! Ossining! Sing
Sing! Let me hear you do your prettiest, birdie. Don!"

The magpie lowered its head and peered outwardly. It lifted a wing with
ruffled dignity. Drew narrowed his eyes. "You were there," he
whispered. "You were in that sealed room--that double-locked and
triple-watched library. How did the murderer shoot down the old man?
How could he do it, Don? I think I know _why_ it was done. I'm fairly
sure who is directing matters. What I want to know is, what devilish
ingenuity of the criminal tribe projected that bullet into the old
man's brain? Answer that, Don!"

The bird was as stately as a raven. It seemed to Drew that he heard an
echoed "Nevermore." He sat upright and took his hands from his knees.
"Answer that, Don?" he repeated.

"Gone batty, Chief?" asked Harrigan, thrusting his shoulders through
the open door.

Drew glanced up. He passed his hand over his forehead in a sweeping
motion as if brushing cobwebs from his brain. "Guess I am," he
admitted, with a sparkling glance at the paper held in the assistant's
hand. "Well!" he snapped, recovering himself. "Well, what luck? I see
that you got something!"

"Yep! I got him, all right. He's hanging around the front office of the
prison seeing what he can find out. He says," Harrigan consulted the
paper. "He says, Morphy has been worried all morning. That he acts like
a man in a daze. Always----"

"I don't want that, now! Didn't I send you out to call up the
vice-president of the telephone company? The same man who helped us
early this morning. Westlake!"

"I was getting to him, Chief! He was busy when I called, so I thought
I'd get Frick again. That's all Frick had to say, except a----"

"Well?"

"Except he'll stay there until he receives instructions from you to the
contrary. Says he'll report if anything turns up."

"Go on with Westlake!" The detective's voice hardened.

"Well, I got him, finally. Had to wait till he cleaned out the callers
in his office. He's in charge of maintenance and equipment. He says
that their records show----"