together in St. Louis, Kansas City, Leavenworth and Chicago. False clews
were sprung every day, and run down to a disappointed termination. But
all to no purpose. Outwitted and baffled, Mr. Pinkerton was treading his
apartment at the Southern Hotel with impatient steps; his brow was
wrinkled with thought and his eyes heavy with loss of sleep. In his vast
and varied experience with criminals he had never yet met one who had so
completely covered his tracks as this same Jim Cummings. Of one thing he
was satisfied, however, and that was, that no professional criminal had
committed the robbery, and again that two or more men were concerned in
it.

In Fotheringham's description of the robbery, he had mentioned hearing
an unusual noise in the fore part of the car, as if some one were
tapping on the partition, and on examining the car, the bell-cord was
found to be plugged. This showed an accomplice, or perhaps more than
one.

That it was not done by a professional was clear, because Mr. Pinkerton,
having the entire directory and encyclopedia of crime and criminals at
his fingers' end, knew of no one that would have gone about the affair
as this man Cummings had done.

As everything else has its system, and each system has its followers, so
robbery has its method, and each method its advocates and practitioners.
This is so assuredly the fact that the detective almost instantly
recognizes the hand which did the work by the manner in which the work
was done.

This particular robbery was unique. An express car had never been looted
in this manner before. "Therefore," said Mr. Pinkerton, "it was done by