“Yes,” he said; “I can fix it to the minute, but I can’t do it offhand.” “Why? How can you fix it, then?” “Just as Low came up to the desk a telegraph boy came with a message for a guest. I had to sign the boy’s book.” “Yes. Well?” “I had to enter the time, you know, and I looked up at the clock as I did so.” “Did you enter the exact minute?” “I did.” “What was it?” “That I can’t remember.” “The boy’s book will show?” “Sure.” “Then,” said Kerr, rising, “we’ll look up that boy, and also try to find the exact minute at which Mr. Judson fell or was thrown from the window.” The detective cautioned the others to say nothing about their conversation; and went out to talk with the men who had seen Judson fall. They agreed pretty nearly as to the time of the event. One said twenty-five minutes of four. The other thought it was two minutes later. When their watches were compared, it was found that one’s was two minutes ahead of the other’s. The testimony of several other persons was taken on this matter, and it was agreed that twenty-five or twenty-six minutes of four was the time when Mr. Judson met his death. A bell boy was quietly questioned, also. He remembered seeing Hank Low leave the hotel office. “’Twas just after he had gone up alone,” the boy said. “I remember, ’cause the clerk was going to send me up with him, and he saved me a trip upstairs by going alone.” This was important, and Kerr asked a number of other questions as to how it happened that Low went up alone, and so forth. Next he found a man who remembered seeing Low drive rapidly away. This man did not know, when he was being questioned, that Low was suspected of murder. “I says, ‘Hello, Hank,’ says I,” he told the detective, “and he said, ‘Hello,’ and got into his wagon. “‘How’s things at the farm?’ says I.” “‘Can’t stop to chin,’ says he, kind of mad, and he whipped up his critter and went away. Never seen Hank in such a hurry.” All this was important, and Kerr made a note of the names of all witnesses. “I’ll try to show Nick Carter,” he thought, “that I can work up a case.” He was just about to leave the hotel, when Folsom approached him with a telegram in his hand. He gave it to Kerr, who read the one word it contained: “Coming.” It was signed “N. C.” “All right,” said Kerr; “when he gets here I shall probably have the guilty man in the lockup. He doesn’t say when he will arrive.” “No,” responded Folsom; “but as this was sent from Pueblo, it shows that he is on the way. I’ve looked up the trains, and should say that he’d be here early in the evening.” “Well, I’m going down to the telegraph office to look up that messenger’s book. If it gives the time I think it does, I shall start for Mason Creek without waiting for Carter.” “I suppose that’s right,” said Folsom. Kerr was sure it was.