even if they could get up
there, it's too far down from the roof--two more stories--for them to
have fixed it from there."

Smith nodded thoughtfully, at the same time trying the strength of an
iron bar which ran from side to side of the window-sill. Suddenly he
stooped, with a sharp exclamation. Bending over his shoulder I saw
what it was that had attracted his attention.

Clearly imprinted upon the dust-coated gray stone of the sill was a
confused series of marks--tracks call them what you will.

Smith straightened himself and turned a wondering look upon me.

"What is it, Petrie?" he said amazedly. "Some kind of bird has been
here, and recently." Inspector Weymouth in turn examined the marks.

"I never saw bird tracks like these, Mr. Smith," he muttered.

Smith was tugging at the lobe of his ear.

"No," he returned reflectively; "come to think of it, neither did I."

He twisted around, looking at the man on the bed.

"Do you think it was all an illusion?" asked the detective.

"What about those marks on the window-sill?" jerked Smith.

He began restlessly pacing about the room, sometimes stopping before
the locked safe and frequently glancing at Norris West.

Suddenly he walked out and briefly examined the other apartments, only
to return again to the bedroom.

"Petrie," he said, "we are losing valuable time. West must be aroused."

Inspector Weymouth stared.

Smith turned to me impatiently. The doctor summoned by the police had
gone. "Is there no means of arousing him, Petrie?" he said.

"Doubtless," I replied, "he could be revived if one but knew what drug
he had taken."

My friend began his restless pacing again, and suddenly pounced upon a
little phial of tabloids which had been hidden behind some books on a
shelf near the bed. He uttered a triumphant exclamation.

"See what we have here, Petrie!" he directed, handing the phial to me.
"It bears no label."

I crushed one of the tabloids in my palm and applied my tongue to the
powder.

"Some preparation of chloral hydrate," I pronounced.

"A sleeping draught?" suggested Smith eagerly.

"We might try," I said, and scribbled a formula upon a leaf of my
notebook. I asked Weymouth to send the man who accompanied him to call
up the nearest chemist and procure the antidote.

During the man's absence Smith stood contemplating the unconscious
inventor, a peculiar expression upon his bronzed face.

"ANDAMAN--SECOND," he muttered. "Shal