fellow whose thought processes I don't pretend to understand."

"Why did he run away if he had nothin' to conceal?"

"Looks bad. By the way, a Japanese house-cleaner was convicted
recently of killing a woman for whom he was working. He ran away, too,
and was brought back later."

"Well, I don't know a thing about Japs except that they're good
workers. But there's one thing about this business that puzzles me.
This murder doesn't look to me like a white man's job. An American bad
man kills an' is done with it. But whoever did this aimed to torture
an' then kill, looks like. If not, why did they tie him up first?"

James nodded, reflectively. "Maybe something in what you say.
Orientals strike me as being kind of unhuman, if you know what I mean.
Maybe they have the red Indian habit of torture in Japan."

"Never heard of it if they have, but I've got a kinda notion--picked it
up in my readin'--that Asiatics will go a long way to square a grudge.
If this Horikawa had anything against Uncle James he might have planned
this revenge an' taken the two thousand dollars to help his getaway."

"Yes, he might."

"Anyhow, I've made up my mind to one thing. You can 'most always get
the truth when you go after it good an' hard. I'm goin' to find out
who did this thing an' why."

James Cunningham looked into his cousin's face. A strong man himself,