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Rh, vague though they had been; and the fog of mystery which encompassed him seemed to have deepened to a solid, impenetrable wall.

It was the parrot which had furnished him with the last and most conflicting clue. Neither the bird's whimpering plaint nor its suspended position in the cage was without reason. On the detective's first approach to the bird he had observed that its upturned feet were both badly blistered. The rods upon which it habitually stood had not been replaced in their supports, but lay on a table close by; and the sliding tray which formed the bottom of the cage was charred black.

His first thought was that the boy in sheer love of cruelty might have been torturing his pet, but a closer inspection had revealed amidst the gravel with which the tray had been lightly sprinkled a few blackened slivers of wood.

Gene Chalmers had told the truth. The sawdust had not been burned in his grate but in the tray from the parrot's cage, and the ashes later placed where they were found.