“Are you an—­an officer?”

“Perhaps I am.  Anyway, you had best answer my questions.”

“I went down to Hopgood’s place, to sell some fish I had caught—­Mr. Hopgood can prove it.  Then I came straight home.”

“Which way did you go to get to Hopgood’s?”

“Took the road yonder, around the hill, and crossed the brook at Peabody’s bridge—­Peabody can prove that, too.  He was out in the hayfield and saw me.”

Adam Adams took a look at the road mentioned.  At a turn there was a cleared spot through the woods and a fair sight could be caught of the rear of the Langmore mansion and of the automobile shed.

“Come here,” he called to Cephas Carboy, and when the shiftless man had shuffled up, he continued:  “You say you walked this way.  When you got to this spot did you happen to look over to the Langmore house?”

“I—­er—­I did.”

“What did you see?  Come now, tell me the exact truth,” and Adam Adams put as much of sternness as possible in his tone.

“I saw—­See here, I don’t want to get in no trouble, I don’t.  I’m a peaceful man, an’ I tend to my own business, I do.  You ain’t a-goin’ to drag me into court.”

“I don’t want to get you into trouble, Carboy—­but I must know the truth of this.  I take it that you are poor.  Am I right?”

“Humph!  Do I look like I was rollin’ in wealth?”

“Then a five dollar bill means something to you, eh?”

The shiftless man opened his eyes widely.

“Does it?  Say, I ain’t had a fiver in my fist fer a month, two months!  Farmin’ don’t pay, an’ it ain’t easy to git work outside, the season’s been that poor.  If you—­”

“Tell me all you know, and perhaps I’ll give you five dollars.”

“Ain’t foolin’?”

“No.  There’s a dollar on account,” and the detective passed over the bill.  The shiftless man clutched it eagerly, looked at it to make certain that it was real money, and rammed it into the pocket of his greasy vest.

“Thanks, sir,” he murmured.  Then he ran his hand through his somewhat matted hair.  “Mind now, I can’t give you this fer dead certain,” he commenced.

“What do you mean by that?”

“I think it happened, but I can’t swear to it.  That house is putty far off, remember.”

“What do you think you saw?”

“I saw a man run across the garden.  He had a satchel in his hand and he was in a hurry.  He slipped and fell and his hat rolled off.  Then he got up, put on his hat, and I lost sight of him behind the bushes.”

“How did the man look?”

“Wait up, that ain’t all.  I’m certain of that part of it, but I ain’t so sure of the rest.  I waited here a minit, because my wife was calling to me to git some groceries when I came back.  I just started to fill my pipe when I looked over there again and I saw a man run from the automobile shed to the house.  The bushes was in the way, but hang me if I don’t think he went in by a winder instead of a door.”