"Night before last, some time," replied the man.

"Done by a deflected bullet, wasn't it?"

"Haven't any idea how it was done or why. I got here in the morning and
there she was. What makes you think it was a deflected bullet?"

"Because it was whirling end-over. Normally, a bullet bores a pretty
clean hole in plate glass."

"That's so, too," agreed the man with some interest.

Average Jones handed a cigar to Waldemar and lighted one himself.
Puffing at it as he walked to the door, he gazed casually around and
finally centered his attention on a telegraph pole standing on the edge
of the sidewalk. He even walked out and around the pole. Returning, he
remarked to the tobacconist:

"Very good cigars, these. Ever advertise 'em?"

"Sure." The man displayed a tin square vaunting the virtues of his
"Camarados."

"Outside the shop, I meant. Why wouldn't one of those signs look good on
that telegraph pole?"

"It would look good to me," said the vendor, "but it wouldn't look good
to the telegraph people. They'd have it down."

"Oh, I don't know. Give me one, lend me a ladder, and I'll make the
experiment."

The tobacconist stared. "All right," he said. "Go as far as you like."
And he got the required articles for his customer.

With silent curiosity Waldemar watched Average Jones place the ladder
against the outside of the pole, mount, nail up the sign, drop a
plumb-line, improvised from a key and a length of string, to the ground,
set a careful knot in the string and return to earth.

"What did you find?" asked the editor.

"Four holes that you could cover with a silver dollar. Some gunnery,
that!"

"Then how did the other shot happen to go so far wrong."

"Do you see that steel work over there?"

Average Jones pointed across to the north side of the street, just
opposite, where a number of buildings had been torn down to permit
of the erection of a new one. The frame had risen three stories, and
through the open spaces in the gaunt skeleton the rear of the houses
facing on the street next northward could be seen. Waldemar indicated
that he did see the edifice pointed out by Average Jones.

"The bullet came from back of that--perhaps from the next street. They
sighted by the telegraph pole. Suppose, now, a man riding in a high
coach passes along this avenue between the pole and the gun operator,
over yonder to the northward. Every one of the bullets which hit the
pole would have gone right through his bo