It is now up to us to trace his movements from the time he alighted at Philadelphia until he walked to his death in his office." A long interval of silence followed, in which the three men tried to appraise the precise value of the substitution of prisoners in its relation to Whitmore's untimely death.

Whitmore had escaped prison only to meet a worse fate, and in less than twenty-four hours after his wrist was freed from the cold pressure of the steel bracelet.
"It was Beard who engineered the substitution," observed the chief.
"Yes," replied Britz.
"And to save Whitmore from prison he took a chance of going to jail." "Evidently he stood ready with the deputy and the substitute to forfeit his liberty for the sake of his employer." "But was he actuated by loyalty to Whitmore or did he have a sinister design of his own ?" questioned Manning.
"That's for us to ascertain." "And how are we going to do it ?" "By means of the man he hired as a substitute," declared Britz in positive tone.
"But how--how ?" demanded Manning.
"That will depend on circumstances.

Now I'm ready to hear the developments at this end." Manning settled back in his chair with the relieved air of one about to discard an irksome burden.

From a drawer of his desk he produced half a dozen long envelopes which he tossed to Britz.
"They contain all the reports of the men," said he.

"You'd better go through them at your leisure to-night or to-morrow morning.