Next day the boss behind a broken-winded horse, in a dilapidated buggy, drove from another town to the place where his client lived. At the smithy on the cross-roads he stopped and borrowed a match. The smith, glad of an excuse to leave the heat of the forge, came out and got the loan of a chew from the boss. “Anybody have any good hosses in this town?” asked the detective. “Betcher life!” answered the smith. “Mr. —— up on the bill has the best in the county!” “What sort of a feller is he?” The smith chewed in silence for a moment. “Don’t know him myself, but I tell you what, his help says he’s the best employer they ever had—and they _stay_ there forever!” The boss drove on to the house, which he observed was situated at about an equal distance from three different railway stations and surrounded by a piazza with pillars. He walked around it, examining the vines until his eye caught a torn creeper and a white scratch on the paint. It _had_ been an outside job after all, and two weeks had already been lost. _Deduction_ was responsible for a mistake which would not have occurred had a little _knowledge_ been acquired first. That is the lesson of this story. The denouement, which has no lesson at all, is interesting. The superintendent saw no prospect of getting back the necklace, but before so informing the client, decided to cogitate on the matter for a day or two. During that time he met by accident a friend who made a hobby of studying yeggmen and criminals and occasionally doing a bit of the amateur tramp act himself. “By the way,” said the friend, “do you ever hear of any ‘touches’ up the river or along the Sound?” “Sometimes,” answered the boss, pricking up his ears. “Why do you ask?” “Why, the other night,” replied the friend, “I happened to be meeting my wife up at the Grand Central about six o’clock and I saw two yeggs that I knew taking a train _out_. I thought it was sort of funny. Pittsburgh Ike and Denver Red.” “When was it?” “Two weeks ago,” said the friend. “Thanks,” returned the boss. “You must excuse me now; I’ve got an important engagement.” Three hours later Pittsburgh Ike and Denver Red were in a cell at head-quarters. _At six o’clock that evening the necklace had been returned._ This was a coincidence that might not occur in a hundred years, but had the deductive detective determined the question he would still be pondering on the comparative probability of whether the cook, the chore man, or the hired girl was the guilty party.