“Is yo’ gwine be out all night, Colonel?” asked Shag.

“I can’t say.  I’m going to do a bit of shadow work and it may take me until sunrise.  But you stay right here.”

“Yes, sah, Colonel.  I will.”

“And now we’ll see, Mr. Aaron Grafton,” said the detective to himself, as he prepared to leave, “whether you’re telling the truth or not.  I think my one best bet is to follow you when you go to see Miss Cynthia!”

But before the colonel could leave the room there sounded the insistent ringing of his telephone bell.

“I wonder if that can be Kettridge,” he mused.  “And yet he wouldn’t know that I had called him.  Answer it, Shag,” he directed.  “It may be some one I don’t care to talk to now.  Don’t say I’m here until you find out who it is.”

“Yes, sah, Colonel!”

The colored servant unhooked the receiver and listened a moment.  Then, carefully covering the mouthpiece with his hand, he announced: 

“It’s Mr. Young, Colonel!”

“Is it!  Good!  Hold him!  I’ll talk with him!”

Quickly crossing the room the detective spoke rapidly into the instrument.

“Hello, Jack!  This is the colonel.  Yes—­what is it?  He is?  That’s unusual—­for him.  Guess he’s going down and out by the wrong route!  Yes, I’ll come right away!  You follow King and I’ll take the trail after Larch.  So he’s boasting that—­ Well, all sorts of things may happen now.  Yes, I’m on my way now.  You follow King!”

The detective remained motionless for a few seconds after he had slipped the receiver into its hook.  Then he said to Shag: 

“Do you know where I ought to be now?”

The colored man paused a moment before replying.  Then he played a safety shot by answering: 

“No, sah, Colonel, I jest doesn’t—­zactly.”

“Well, I ought to be getting ready to go fishing.  I’m sick of this whole business.  I’m going to quit!  I never ought to have gone into it.  I’m too old.  I told ’em that, but they wouldn’t believe me.”

“Too old to go fishin’, sah, Colonel?  No sah!  You’ll never be dat!  Never!”

“Oh, I don’t mean fishing, Shag!  I mean I never ought to have been mixed up with this affair—­this detective business.  I’m going to quit now, Shag!”

“Yes, sah, Colonel!”

“Get me Kedge on the long distance.”

“Mr. Kedge, in N’ York, sah?”

“Yes.  I’m going to turn this over to him.  It’s getting on my nerves. 
I want to go fishing.  I’ll let him work out the rest of the problems. 
Get Kedge on the wire.”

“Yes, sah, Colonel.”

The colored man went to the instrument, but before he had engaged the attention of central his master called: 

“Oh, Shag!”

“Yes, sah, Colonel.”

“Wait a minute.  I suppose Kedge is very busy now?”

“Well, yes, sah, I s’pects so.  He had dat ar’ animal case.”