newspaper?"

"Ye--ye--yes, sah, Colonel, I has! But I done bought it fo' mahse'f.
Deed an' I wasn't goin' t' let yo' hab so much as a snift at it,
Colonel! De train-boy, whut yo' gib a dollar t', he handed it t' me
when I was gittin' off. It's one ob de papers gotten out right yeah in
dis city, an'--"

"Well, out with it, Shag! What's in it that's so mighty interesting?"

"Er--Colonel--yo' see--yo' done tole me--"

"Oh, out with it, Shag! I'll forgive you, I suppose. What is it?"

"Well, Colonel, sah, de paper done got in it an 'count ob a strange an'
mysterious murder case, an'--"

"I knew it! I knew it! I could almost have taken my oath on it!"
cried the excitable colonel. "Here I come to this place to have some
quiet fishing in the suburbs, to get a complete rest, and yet not be
too far from civilization, and no sooner do I get off the train than
there's a murder mystery thrust right under my nose! Right under my
nose! By Gad! I knew it!"

Shag stood, resting his weight first on one foot and then on the other,
his head bowed. He was trying to keep from slipping from under his
vest, where he had hidden it, a newspaper, with glaring, black
headlines. Shag looked timidly at his master.

Colonel Ashley paced up and down the room, pausing now and then to