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have— but I don't know who they'd be. Any Wop or Dago that he'd fired from a stevedore gang might have knifed him."
    "If they had, they'd likely have taken his roll," commented the detective.
    "You bet they would,” assented the other. "Guess that let's them out of it.”
    "Might have had a row over a girl. Peter was nuts on the ladies."
    "Would you object to stating how you happened to be so familiar with the exact condition of his teeth?" asked Dr. Thane, who had been mentally reviewing the details of the interview and identification.
    "That's simple," laughed Captain Scarsdale. "Peter had a bit of an argument with a hand from St. Thomas—big square-head chap—and in the mixup, Peter's teeth got knocked out. One was broke off and ached him like the devil, and he asked me to plug it for him until he could get the root hauled free by a dentist."
    "I see," murmured the scientist. "But you say that Underdunk was a sailor. The palms of his hands and his fingers are free from callous spots. They do not look as if the deceased had performed manual labor recently."
    "Probably hadn't," declared the captain. "Dock masters don't have to. But, look here. See any callouses on my paw?" As he spoke he spread his huge hands for the others to inspect.
    "I guess that's all, Captain," said the detective, "unless there is something else that Dr. Thane would like to ask."
    "No, I think Captain Scarsdale has identified the body beyond question. "But," added the scientist, as the mariner rose to go, "of course it would be preferable to secure a confirmatory identification. Do you know of anyone else who could swear the body is that of the man Underdunk?'
    "Sure," replied the seaman. "Anyone in the Atlantic Company ought to. There's Captain Atwood. He's superintendent. Why not call him?"
    Dr. Thane, highly elated because he found he had come so near hitting the mark in his surmises, and quite convinced that Captain Atwood would confirm the identification, hurried to his office. With scientific fervor, he began building up the details of the crime and criminal as he believed they should be according to psychological reasoning.
    To him, now that he was aware of the race, occupation and character of the dead man, the whole matter was clear, and that very day he handed a copy of his findings to his friend, the detective.
    "The crime," he wrote, "was not premeditated. The fatal blow was as unexpected and unforeseen to the deceased's companion as to himself. There was no real motive for the crime, at least not enough to warrant homicide. Fright at what had occurred, drove the responsible person to seek refuge in flight, probably to South America.
    "In all probability he was at sea before the body was discovered. But in my opinion, he will have an irresistible impulse to return and learn all details of the mystery as known to the authorities. Impulsively as he acted at the time, he will, if I am not greatly mistaken, run true to psychological form and, of his own free will, will tell the entire story regardless of consequences. The dead man's assassin was undoubtedly a Latin-American, or at least, a Latin, with the chances in favor of his having a slight strain of primitive blood—probably Indian. He had been on friendly terms with the deceased up to the moment of the tragedy, the exact cause of which I do not feel qualified, from the meager means of deduction at my disposal, to state definitely. But I feel quite confident that it was due to some discussion over property, and by this term I mean wages, money due, or any object, the ownership of which was in dispute. The murderer, however, was not one who would kill for personal gain, and he did not possess himself of the dead man's funds. The wound which produced death was, as has been already determined, made by a blunt, dull instrument not at all adapted to homicidal purposes. It was used without thought, the psychology of the user unconsciously urging him to strike with whatever