understand he was very many years at Beechcroft?"

"Forty-six, man and boy, as he puts it."

"Write to-morrow and bring him to town. He can stay at your hotel. I will
not keep him long; just one conversation--no more. Can you or your father
tell me anything else about that sword?"

"I fear not. Admiral Cunningham--"

"I guess I'm the authority there," broke in Winter. "I got to know all
about it from Mr. Okasaki."

"And who, pray, is Mr. Okasaki?"

"A Japanese gentleman, who came to Ipswich to hear the first trial. He was
interested in the case, owing to the curious fact that a murder in a
little English village should be committed with such a weapon, so he came
down to listen to the evidence. And, by the way, he took a barmaid back
with him. There was rather a sensation."

"The Japs are very enterprising. What did he tell you about the sword?"

The detective produced a note-book.

"It is all here," he said, turning over the leaves. "A Japanese Samurai,
or gentleman, in former days carried two swords, one long blade for use
against his enemies, and a shorter one for committing suicide if he was
beaten or disgraced. The sword Mr. Hume gave his cousin was a short one,
and the knife which accompanied it is called the Ko-Katana, or little