possible that the wound was caused by a
regulation weapon of some sort after all; is the shape of the cut an
infallible test as to the character of the instrument used?"

There was an anxious eagerness in the voice; the gray pallor of the
face, and the feverish eyes were those of a man whose nerves were
clamoring, but whose roused mind refused to give them rest.

"Such is the case in the great majority of instances," said Dr. Shower,
firmly. "We are seldom led astray."

"There has been no weapon found," persisted young Burton; "and that
being the case do you not think it possible----"

But here a sudden exclamation from Osborne, who had gone to one of the
windows and stood looking out, interrupted the speaker. In spite of his
bigness the detective was in excellent training; with a spring he went
through the window which opened upon a walk fringed with autumn-brown
bushes; and in another moment he was back in the room.

"Don't be too sure about no weapon being found," said he, triumph in his
face and voice. "What would you call this?"

As he spoke he held up a heavy brass candlestick; it had a solid base of
metal, and the edge of this was darkly clotted with blood.

CHAPTER IV

ASHTON-KIRK MAKES ONE VISIT, AND PLANS ANOTHER

Ashton-Kirk sat cross-legged upon a sofa, the amber bit of his Coblentz
pipe between his teeth, and the wreaths of smoke curling above his head.
About him were scattered bound volumes of police papers; and upon his
knees rested a huge book, canvas covered and seeming full of carefully
spaced entries done in a copper plate hand.

"I knew the 'Bounder' had gone along without much friction with the
police," said the investigator; "but I'll admit that I'm a bit surprised
at the completeness of the thing."

A dapper young man who stood at a filing case, going over a thick inset
of cards, laughed a little.

"I'll venture to say that there is not a police blotter in any large
city in the country that holds the name of Tom Burton," said he. "But
there are dozens of other names--poor devils, rounded up in some risky
operation of which the 'Bounder' was the instigator."

Ashton-Kirk nodded.

"One might call that 'dogging it,'" said he, "or it might be viewed as
exceedingly clever work. It altogether depends upon the point of view.
To maintain such an attitude in the background over a long period of
time calls for a rigorous self-repression. Burton was evidently a
criminal of some part