"I've told you all I know; he was lying there in the open when I found
him--there was nothing he could have struck against in falling."

"That was a blow struck him," insisted the sergeant, "either by a
square-handled pistol, or a carbine stock. I've seen that sorter thing
before; but who the hell ever hit him?"

No one attempted to answer. Then I said,

"The only thing I have noticed which might be a clue is this: when I
first came in through the kitchen I discovered a clod of fresh clay dirt
on the back stairs. I supposed it had dropped from Le Gaire's boots. But
there's no sign of yellow clay on his boots now. It must have been some
one else."

"Trailin' the poor devil," ejaculated Miles. "But who was he? An' where
is he now?"

None attempted a guess, looking blankly into each others' faces, and
down upon the ghastly features of the dead man. We were all accustomed
to death, and in terrible form, but this was different, this held a
horror all its own. I could hear the heavy breathing, we stood so
motionless.

"Major Hardy,"--and it was like sacrilege to break the silence,--"we can
never clear the mystery standing here. I've examined every room on this
floor, and there is not so much as a rat in any of them. Whoever the
murderer was, he has either got away, or is hidden on some other
floor--is there an attic?"

"Yes, but with no stairs; the only way to get there is by the kitchen
roof. What do you propose to do?"

"Take a moment and see if I can think it out," I said, drawing a sheet
up over the dead face. "There must be some simple way to account for all
this if we can only get on the right trail. Come, gentlemen."

We passed out together, and stopped in front of the closed door. The
firing without was growing so much heavier that all noticed it, Bell
striding to the end of the hall, and thrusting his head out of the
window. Still it was not close enough as yet to be alarming, and my
thought was upon other things.

"Major, I wish you would go in and speak to your daughter," I said. "I
told her you would come and tell her all you knew."

I watched him cross to the door, knock, and enter.

CHAPTER XXVIII

I FORCE BILLIE TO LISTEN

There was a narrow settee against the wall, and I sat down upon it, to
think and to wait for Hardy's return. Eager as I was to discover the
cause of Le Gaire's death, yet it seemed almost more important that
Billie be brought to an understanding of conditions. Her father