



Produced by D Alexander, Joseph Cooper and the Online
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 PHILO GUBB

 Correspondence-School
 Detective

 BY

 ELLIS PARKER BUTLER

 WITH ILLUSTRATIONS

 BOSTON AND NEW YORK
 HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY
 The Riverside Press Cambridge
 1918




 COPYRIGHT, 1913, 1914, AND 1915, BY THE RED BOOK CORPORATION
 COPYRIGHT, 1918, BY ELLIS PARKER BUTLER

 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

 _Published September 1918_




[Illustration: "IN THE DETECKATIVE LINE NOTHING SOUNDS FOOLISH" (_page
218_)]




CONTENTS


 THE HARD-BOILED EGG                                              3

 THE PET                                                         21

 THE EAGLE'S CLAWS                                               43

 THE OUBLIETTE                                                   66

 THE UN-BURGLARS                                                 95

 THE TWO-CENT STAMP                                             113

 THE CHICKEN                                                    138

 THE DRAGON'S EYE                                               156

 THE PROGRESSIVE MURDER                                         171

 THE MISSING MR. MASTER                                         185

 WAFFLES AND MUSTARD                                            205

 THE ANONYMOUS WIGGLE                                           227

 THE HALF OF A THOUSAND                                         247

 DIETZ'S 7462 BESSIE JOHN                                       266

 HENRY                                                          288

 BURIED BONES                                                   307

 PHILO GUBB'S GREATEST CASE                                     329




ILLUSTRATIONS


 "IN THE DETECKATIVE LINE NOTHING SOUNDS FOOLISH"      _Frontispiece_

 "THIS SHELL GAME IS EASY ENOUGH WHEN YOU KNOW HOW"               8

 MR. WINTERBERRY DID NOT SEEM TO BE CONCEALED AMONG THEM         30

 A HEAD SILHOUETTED AGAINST ONE OF THE GLOWING WINDOWS           44

 "THESE HERE IS FALSE WHISKERS AND HAIR"                         86

 "WHO SENT YOU HERE, ANYWAY?"                                   106

 UNDER HIS ARM HE CARRIED A SMALL BUNDLE                        108

 SHE MADE GESTURES WITH HER HANDS                               128

 "DETECKATING IS MY AIM AND MY PROFESSION"                      138

 WITH ANOTHER GROAN WIXY RAISED HIS HANDS                       150

 "THE 'ONGSOMBLE' OF MY COSTUME IS RUINED"                      162

 "THERE AIN'T A DAY HE DON'T SHOOT AND HIT ME"                  178

 THE MISSING MR. MASTER                                         202

 "YOU ARE A MAN, AND BIG AND STRONG AND BRAVE-LIKE"             234

 HE PERSPIRES, AND OUT COMES THE CRUEL ADMISSION                252

 A MAN WHO LOOKED LIKE NAPOLEON BONAPARTE GONE TO SEED          268

 HE WORE A SET OF RED UNDER-CHIN WHISKERS                       280

 "SHE THINKS IT'S HENRY. SHE'S FIXED UP THE GUEST BEDROOM
 FOR HIM"                                                       304

 "A DETECKATIVE LIKE YOU ARE OUGHTN'T TO NEED TWENTY-FIVE
 CENTS SO BAD AS THAT"                                          320

 HE WAS FOLLOWED BY A LARGE AND GROWING GROUP INTENT ON
 WATCHING A DETECTIVE DETECT                                    340




 PHILO GUBB

 THE CORRESPONDENCE-SCHOOL
 DETECTIVE




THE HARD-BOILED EGG


Walking close along the wall, to avoid the creaking floor boards,
Philo Gubb, paper-hanger and student of the Rising Sun Detective
Agency's Correspondence School of Detecting, tiptoed to the door of
the bedroom he shared with the mysterious Mr. Critz. In appearance Mr.
Gubb was tall and gaunt, reminding one of a modern Don Quixote or a
human flamingo; by nature Mr. Gubb was the gentlest and most
simple-minded of men. Now, bending his long, angular body almost
double, he placed his eye to a crack in the door panel and stared into
the room. Within, just out of the limited area of Mr. Gubb's vision,
Roscoe Critz paused in his work and listened carefully. He heard the
sharp whistle of Mr. Gubb's breath as it cut against the sharp edge of
the crack in the panel, and he knew he was being spied upon. He placed
his chubby hands on his knees and smiled at the door, while a red
flush of triumph spread over his face.

Through the crack in the door Mr. Gubb could see the top of the
washstand beside which Mr. Critz was sitting, but he could not see Mr.
Critz. As he