The Case of the Lamp That Went Out
       “You will please answer my questions in a proper manner. This impertinence will not make things easier for you.”      

       “All right, sir,” said the tramp humbly. “I am a Catholic.”      

       “You have been in prison before?” This was scarcely a question.     

       “No, sir,” said Knoll firmly.     

       “What is your business?”      

       “I don’t know what to say, sir,” answered Knoll, shrugging his shoulders.       “I’ve done a lot of things in my life. I’m a cattle drover and a lumber man, and I—”      

       “Did you learn any trade?”      

       “No, sir, I never learned anything.”      

       “Do you mean to tell me that without having learned any trade you’ve gotten through life thus far honestly?”      

       “Oh, I’ve worked hard enough—I’ve worked good and hard sometimes.”      

       “The last few days particularly, eh?”      

       “Why, no, sir, not these last days—I was drover on a transport of pigs; we brought ‘em down from Hungary, 200 of ‘em, to the slaughter house here.”      

       “When was that?”      

       “That was—that was Monday.”      

       “This last Monday?”      

       “Yes, sir.     

       “And then you went to Hietzing?”      

       “Yes, sir, that’s right.”      

       “Why did you go to Hietzing?”      

       “Why, see here, sir, if I had gone to Ottakring, then I suppose you would have asked why did I go to Ottakring. I just went to Hietzing. A fellow has to go somewhere. You don’t stay in the same spot all the time, do you?”      


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