"Now, we can prove that you came back to your landlady with a large package of money, and offered her five hundred dollars to keep quiet about the fact of your having played cards with this young fellow, and then having followed him out."
"Well, if you can prove that, you had better do it," said Ingham; then, changing his tone, and looking straight in the sergeant's face, he added: "Now, look here, sergeant, if you have any charges against me, just state them."
The sergeant muttered something about locking him up, and started to go out.
"If you lock me up," replied Ingham, coolly, "I hope you are prepared to take the consequences."
"Who the devil are you, anyhow?" asked the sergeant.
"No relation of yours, I assure you," was the reply, and the sergeant went away.
At this time, a tall, dignified man came in and asked the station-keeper a question. The policeman replied that there was no such man there.
"I know better than that," said the stranger, "and I must see him."
The station-keeper declared positively that they had no such man, and the stranger then went upstairs. In a few minutes the sergeant came in and told Ingham to follow him. As they were going upstairs, they met the tall stranger coming down. Ingham felt confident that this man was looking for him, and, in passing, he pinched the stranger's leg. The pinch was returned, and the tall man stopped; but Ingham and the sergeant went up to the captain's room. After asking Ingham his name, the captain said:
"Where were you last Saturday night?"