e thing I need." He
waited while the weapon and the shells were wrapped in a paper.
Matthews took the parcel and the five men went outside.
Chapter VI
Professor Brierly nodded with satisfaction when he looked up at
the rear facade of Miller's Folly. Near the edge of the roof, was
a chimney. A plumb line dropped from the center of the chimney
would drop about three feet to the right of the only window in the
blank, forbidding wall.
"I see," commented the old man, "a chimney. I did not know." He
turned to Brasher. "You offered to help, young man; here is your
chance. At the rear of the chimney, near its base, particularly
the two rear angles, you will find fresh marks. The chimney is
probably scuffed as though a rope had been drawn tightly about it
and pulled back and forth. You will find the edges of the roof,
coincident with the sides of the chimney, also scuffed as though a
rope had been pulled across the edge with quite a weight at its
end. You--"
Brasher did not hear the end. He was racing around the side of the
building. In a short time they saw his figure on the edge of the
roof clinging to the chimney. Then he crawled to the edge and
leaning far forward, he gazed intently at something that the men
below could not see.
Brasher looked down and nodded his head so violently that he
nearly threw himself from the roof. He came racing around the side
of the house in a short time.
"You're right, Professor; it's just like you said. I begin to see--"
Professor Brierly was pointing at a spot on the wall about three
feet from the ground. There was a scar in the cement joining the
stones. The scar was a small hole about large enough to hold a
man's small finger. The scar ran obliquely from above, downward
and inward.
Professor Brierly was saying:
"There are a number of these scars running up in a staggered
arrangement, one above the other, about a foot apart, literally. I
saw some of these scars from the window above and one especially
deep one. It is fairly obvious--"
"I get you, Professor, I get you. You think--"
Professor Brierly shook his head.
"I shall tell you definitely what I think when I have made the
tests with the revolver. Can we get shells like these at Hinkle's?
I shall need some more."
Professor Brierly chose to keep his own counsel on the way to
Lentone and thence to their camp on the lake. Arrived there, he
did not waste much time. Taking a number of sheets of paper, he
sh
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