“You say the police haven’t a single clue to any one who might be responsible for the fires?” I asked, hoping that perhaps the marshal might talk more freely of his suspicions to us than he had already expressed himself in the newspaper interviews I had read.

“Absolutely not a clue—­except such as are ridiculous,” replied McCormick, twisting his cap viciously.

No one spoke.  We were waiting for McCormick to go on.

“The first fire,” he began, repeating his story for my benefit, although Craig listened quite as attentively as if he had not heard it already, “was at the big store of Jones, Green leaders have been arrested, but I can’t say we have anything against any of them.  Still, Max Bloom, the manager of this company, insists that the fire was set for revenge, and indeed it looks as much like a fire for revenge as the Jones-Green fire does”—­here he lowered his voice confidentially—­“for the purpose of collecting insurance.

“Then came the fire in the Slawson Building, a new loft-building that had been erected just off Fourth Avenue.  Other than the fact that the Stacey interests put up the money for financing this building there seemed to be no reason for that fire at all.  The building was reputed to be earning a good return on the investment, and I was at a loss to account for the fire.  I have made no arrests for it—­just set it down as the work of a pure pyromaniac, a man who burns buildings for fun, a man with an inordinate desire to hear the fire-engines screech through the streets and perhaps get a chance to show a little heroism in ‘rescuing’ tenants.  However, the adjuster for the insurance company, Lazard, and the adjuster for the insured, Hartstein, have reached an agreement, and I believe the insurance is to be paid.”

“But,” interposed Kennedy, “I see no evidence of organised arson so far.”

“Wait,” replied the fire marshal.  “That was only the beginning, you understand.  A little later came a fire that looked quite like an attempt to mask a robbery by burning the building afterward.  That was in a silk-house near Spring Street.  But after a controversy the adjusters have reached an agreement on that case.  I mention these fires because they show practically all the types of work of the various kinds of firebug—­insurance, revenge, robbery, and plain insanity.  But since the Spring Street fire, the character of the fires has been more uniform.  They have all been in business places, or nearly all.”

Here the fire marshal launched forth into a catalogue of fires of suspected incendiary origin, at least eight in all.  I took them down hastily, intending to use the list some time in a box head with an article in the Star.  When he had finished his list I hastily counted up the number of killed.  There were six, two of them firemen, and four employees.  The money loss ranged into the millions.