THE GOLD BAG



I

THE CRIME IN WEST SEDGWICK


Though a young detective, I am not entirely an inexperienced one,
and I have several fairly successful investigations to my credit
on the records of the Central Office.

The Chief said to me one day: "Burroughs, if there's a mystery to
be unravelled; I'd rather put it in your hands than to trust it
to any other man on the force.

"Because," he went on, "you go about it scientifically, and you
never jump at conclusions, or accept them, until they're
indubitably warranted."

I declared myself duly grateful for the Chief's kind words, but I
was secretly a bit chagrined. A detective's ambition is to be,
considered capable of jumping at conclusions, only the
conclusions must always prove to be correct ones.

But though I am an earnest and painstaking worker, though my
habits are methodical and systematic, and though I am
indefatigably patient and persevering, I can never make those
brilliant deductions from seemingly unimportant clues that