Sugar being at the time uppermost in the mind of the “Street,” Page was naturally to be found crammed with facts about that staple.  One could not help being interested in studying a man of his type, as long as one kept his grip on his pocket-book.  For he was a veritable pied piper when it came to enticing dollars to follow him, and in his promotions he had the reputation of having amassed an impressive pile of dollars himself.

No important change in the condition of Barrios had taken place, except that he was a trifle more exhausted, and Doctor Scott administered a stimulant.  Kennedy, who was eager to take up the investigation of the case on the outside in the hope of discovering something that might be dignified into being a clue, excused himself, with a nod to Anitra to follow into the hall.

“I may look over the office?” Craig ventured when we were alone with her.

“Surely,” she replied, frankly, opening her handbag which was lying on a table near the door.  “I have an equal right in the business with my brother.  Here are the keys.  The office has been closed to-day.”

Kennedy took the keys, promising to let her know the moment he discovered anything important, and we hurried directly down-town.

The office of the Barrios Company was at the foot of Wall Street, where the business of importing touched on the financial district.  From the window one could see freighters unloading their cargoes at the docks.  In the other direction, capital to the billions was represented.  But in all that interesting neighborhood nothing just at present could surpass the mystery of what had taken place in the lonely little office late the night before.

Kennedy passed the rail that shut the outer office off from a sort of reception space.  He glanced about at the safe, the books, papers, and letter-files.  It would take an accountant and an investigator days, perhaps weeks, to trace out anything in them, if indeed it were worth while at all.

Two glass doors opened at one end to two smaller private offices, one belonging evidently to Sandoval, the other to Barrios.  What theory Craig formed I could not guess, but as he tiptoed from the hall door, past the rail, to the door of Jose’s office, I could see that first of all he was trying to discover whether it was possible to enter the outer office and reach Jose’s door unseen and unheard by any one sitting at the desk inside.  Apparently it was easily possible, and he paused a moment to consider what good that knowledge might do.

As he did so his eye rested on the floor.  A few feet away stood one of the modern “sanitary” desks.  In this case the legs of the desk raised the desk high enough from the floor so that one could at least see where the cleaning-woman had left a small pile of unsanitary dust near the wall.

Suddenly Kennedy bent down and poked something out of the pile of dust.  There on the floor was an empty shell of a cartridge.  Kennedy picked it up and looked at it curiously.