“'Humph!' grunts Brown. 'Why didn't you hang it on the door-knob? Under the pillow! If I was a sneak thief, the first place I'd look would be under the pillow; after that I'd tackle the jewelry box and the safe.' “There was consider'ble more talk. Seems the Sterzers had left Henry on guard, same as they always done, when they went to supper. They could trust him and Suzette absolute, they said. But Henry had gone down the hall after a drink of water, and when he had got back everything apparently was all right. 'Twa'n't till Gabe himself come up that he found the paper gone. I judged he'd made it interestin' for Henry; the poor critter looked that way. “All hands agreed to keep mum for the present and to watch. Peter hustled to the office and called up the Pinkertons over the long distance.” Mr. Wingate paused. Captain Sol was impatient. “Go on,” he said. “Don't stop now, I'm gettin' anxious.” Barzilla rose to his feet. “Here's your McKay man back again,” he said. “Let's go up to your house and have breakfast. We can talk while we're eatin'. I'm empty as a poorhouse boarder's pocketbook.” CHAPTER VI AVIATION AND AVARICE Breakfast at Capt. Sol Berry's was a bountiful meal. The depot master employed a middle-aged woman who came in each day, cooked his meals and did the housework, returning to her own home at night. After Mr. Wingate had mowed a clean swath through ham and eggs, cornbread and coffee, and had reached the cooky and doughnut stage, he condescended to speak further concerning the stolen paper. “Well,” he said, “Brown give me and Jonadab a serious talkin' to when he got us alone.” “'Now, fellers,' he says, 'we know what we've got to do. Nothin'll be too good for this shebang and us if we get that agreement back. Fust place, the thing was done a few minutes after the supper-bell rung. That is, unless that 'Enry is in on the deal, which ain't unlikely, considerin' the price he could get from the Gordon gang. Was anybody late at the tables?' “Why, yes; there were quite a few late. Two of the 'gunners,' who'd been on a forlorn-hope duck hunt; and a minister and his wife, out walkin' for their health; and Parker and two fellers from the football team, who'd been practicin'. “'Any of the waiters or the chambermaids?' asked Peter. “I'd been expectin' he'd ask that, and I hated to answer. “'One of the waiters was a little late,' says I. 'Willie wa'n't on hand immediate. Said he went to wash his hands.' “Now the help gen'rally washed in the fo'castle--the servants' quarters, I mean--but there was a wash room on the floor where the Sterzer-Robinsons roomed. Peter looked at Jonadab, and the two of 'em at me. And I had to own up that Willie had come downstairs from that wash room a few minutes after the bell rung. “'Hum!' says Peter T. 'Hum!' he says. 'Look here, Barzilla, didn't you tell me you knew that feller's real name, and that he had been studying law?'