any one were listening outside. Then he came back to the Doctor
on tiptoe and whispered,

"HE KILLED A MAN!"

"Lord preserve us!" cried the Doctor, sitting down heavily in a
chair and mopping his forehead with a handkerchief. "When did he
do it?"

"Fifteen years ago--in a Mexican gold-mine. That's why he has
been a hermit ever since. He shaved off his beard and kept away
from people out there on the marshes so he wouldn't be
recognized. But last week, it seems these new-fangled policemen
came to Town; and they heard there was a strange man who kept to
himself all alone in a shack on the fen. And they got
suspicious. For a long time people had been hunting all over the
world for the man that did that killing in the Mexican gold-mine
fifteen years ago. So these policemen went out to the shack, and
they recognized Luke by a mole on his arm. And they took him to
prison."

"Well, well!" murmured the Doctor. "Who would have thought it?--
Luke, the philosopher!--Killed a man!--I can hardly believe it."

"It's true enough--unfortunately," said Jip. "Luke did it. But
it wasn't his fault. Bob says so. And he was there and saw it
all. He was scarcely more than a puppy at the time. Bob says
Luke couldn't help it. He HAD to do it."

"Where is Bob now?" asked the Doctor.