r. Nathan, and
lighted up by a small gas jet which was burning in the chamber. The two
men had met in the doorway between the rooms, and the thief, seeing
himself identified, had struck Mr. Nathan a blow with a short iron bar
curved at the ends, and known as a ship carpenter's "dog." A struggle
ensued, which resulted in the murder, the assassin striking his victim on
the head nine times with terrible force. Then, rifling the safe of its
valuable contents, he had gone stealthily down the stairs, had unfastened
the front door, which had been carefully secured at half an hour after
midnight, and, laying the "dog" down on the hall floor, had passed out
into the street. His object in carrying the "dog" to the place where it
was found by the police had been to be prepared to make sure of his
escape by striking down any one whom he might chance to meet in the hall.
Once in the street, the assassin had disappeared in safety.

Both Jourdan and Kelso were agreed that this theory of the commission of
the crime was correct, and this led to the inevitable conclusion that the
murder was the work of an "outsider," that is, of some one not properly
belonging to the criminal class. The weapon with which the murder had
been committed was one which the Detectives had never before encountered
in the annals of crime, and its appearance indicated long use in its
legitimate sphere. No burglar or professional thief would have used it,
and none of the inmates of the house recognized it as belonging to the
mansion. Again, the professional thief would have despatched his victim
with more speed and less brutality. There was not the slightest sign of
the thief having forced an entrance into the mansion, and the most rigid
search failed to reveal the mark of a burglar's tool on any of the doors
or windows. This fact warranted the conclusion that the murderer had
secreted himself in the house during the day. From the first Jourdan was
convinced that the assassin was one of a class who pursue an honest trade
during the day, and seek to fill their pockets more rapidly by committing
robberies at night. From this conviction he never wavered.

As he stood by the side of the murdered man, Jourdan recognized the
difficulty of the task of finding the assassin. The "dog" bewildered
him. Had the weapon been any kind of a burglar's tool, or anything that
any description of thief had ever been known to use, he would have been
able to trace it to som