He knew Jim Farland and had known him for years. There were few old-timers in that section of the city who did not know Jim Farland. The man who faced the detective now was small, stoop-shouldered, a sort of a rat of a man who had considerably more money to his credit than his appearance indicated, and who was not eager to have the world in general know how he had acquired some of it. "Evenin', Mr. Farland," he said. "Anything I can do for you, sir?" "Maybe you can and maybe you can't," Farland told him. "You been behaving yourself lately?" "What do you mean, Mr. Farland? I've been trying to get along, but business ain't been any too good the last year." "Save that song for somebody who doesn't know better!" Farland advised him. "Change the record when you play me a tune." "Yes, sir. Is there anything I can do for you, Mr. Farland?" "Remember a little deal a couple of years ago?" Farland demanded suddenly. "I--I----" "I see that you do. One little word from me in the proper quarter, old man, and you'll be doing time. You've sailed pretty close to the edge of the law a lot of times, and once, I know, you slipped over the edge a bit." "I--I hope, sir----" "You'd better hope that you can keep on the good side of me," Jim Farland told him. "If there is anything I can do, Mr. Farland----" "Do you suppose you could tell the truth?" "Yes, sir." "I'm going to give you a chance. If you tell the truth, I may forget something I know, for the time being. But, if you shouldn't tell the truth--well, my memory is excellent when I want to exercise it." Farland stepped to the door and beckoned, and Murk hurried across the street and entered the shop. "Ever see this man before?" Farland demanded. The storekeeper licked his lips, and a sudden gleam came into his eyes. "I--he seems to look familiar, but I can't say." "You'd better say!" Farland exclaimed. "I want the truth out of you, or something will drop. And when it drops, it is liable to hit you on the toes. Get me?" "I--I don't know what to do," wailed the merchant. "Tell the truth!" "But--there is something peculiar about----" "Out with it! Know this man?" "I've seen him before," the merchant replied. "When?" "La-last night, sir." "Now we are getting at it!" Jim Farland exclaimed. "When did you see him last night, and where, and what happened?" "He was in the store, Mr. Farland, about half past ten or a quarter of eleven o'clock. He--he bought those clothes he's got on." "Pay for them?" "Yes, sir." "Who paid for them?" Farland demanded. "A gentleman who was with him," said the merchant. "Ah! Know the gentleman?" "I saw him to-day--at police headquarters." "And you said that you never had seen him before--that he was not here last night with this man. Why did you lie?" Jim Farland roared the question and smashed a fist down upon the counter. The little merchant flinched.