and his refusal to
explain it?" I asked uneasily.

"No," Terry laughed. "That may be significant and it may not--I strongly
suspect that it is not. What I mean, is the peculiar place in which the
crime was committed. No person on earth could have foreseen that Colonel
Gaylord would go alone into that cave. There is an accidental element
about the murder. It must have been committed on the spur of the moment
by someone who had not premeditated it--at least at that time. This is
the point we must keep in mind."

He sat for a few moments staring at the dashboard with a puzzled frown.

"Broadly speaking," he said slowly, "I have found that you can place the
motive of every wilful murder under one of three heads--avarice, fear or
revenge. Suppose we consider the first. Could avarice have been the
motive for Colonel Gaylord's murder? The body had not been robbed, you
tell me?"

"No, we found a gold watch and considerable money in the pockets."

"Then, you see, if the motive were avarice, it could not have been
immediate gain. That throws out the possibility that the murderer was
some unknown thief who merely took advantage of a chance opportunity. If
we are to conceive of avarice as the motive, the crime must have been
committed by some person who would benefit more remotely by the
Colonel's death. Did anyone owe him money that you know of?"

"There is no record of anything of the sort and he was a careful
business man. I do not think he would have loaned money without making
some memorandum of it. He held several mortgages but they, of course,
revert to his heirs."

"I understood that Radnor was the only heir."

"He is, practically. There are a few minor bequests to the servants and
to some old friends."

"Did the servants know that anything was to go to them?"

"No, I don't think they did."

"And this Cat-Eye Mose, did he receive a share?"

"Yes, larger than any of the others."

"It seems that Colonel Gaylord, at least, had confidence in him. And how
about the other son? Did he know that he was to be disinherited?"

"I think that the Colonel made it plain at the time they parted."

Terry shook his head and frowned.

"This disinheriting business is bad. I don't like it and I never shall.
It stirs up more ill-feeling than anything I know of. Jeff seems to have
proved an alibi, however, and we will dismiss him for the present."

"Rad has always sympathized with Jeff," I said.

"Then," continued Terry, "i