d. "Thash pre-war whiskey. Sh-shot me
clean through the brain pan. C-caught in the brewersh web."

He swayed a little and settled down on the floor by sections. Harrison
Smith stooped and put a cushion beneath his head.

"All ri' soon--qui' all ri'. Fac' is I'm one of the ruins Crom'll
knocked about a bit." The voice tailed away into a deep, slumberous
groan.

A minute later Harrison Smith was at the door of Barraclough's flat on
the landing below. The fourth key on the bunch turned the latch and
silently as a cat he slipped into the hall. A quick observation of the
chambers above had given him a fair idea of which room was which and he
had no trouble in locating the study door in the dark. Before turning
on a light he assured himself that the window curtains were drawn. He
realised the need to be very silent in all his actions since
Barraclough's servant was in all probability sleeping on the premises
and ex-service men of the regular army have an awkward knack of
sleeping lightly. He closed the door without even a click from the
latch, then turned up a standard lamp that stood on the writing table.
In the pen tray beneath the lamp was a blue pencil--a new one--since
obviously it had never been sharpened and the chalk point was scarcely
worn at all. The other end of the pencil had been deeply bitten in a
dozen places, a circumstance which Harrison Smith noted with
satisfaction. The other pencils and pens in the tray bore no teeth
marks. It was reasonable, therefore, to surmise that its owner had
been engaged in some knotty and puzzling problem at the time of use.

"I believe the girl was on the right track," he muttered to himself and
turned his attention to the bookshelves. One of the cases was given
over entirely to a collection of local guide books surprisingly
complete in map and detail. There were four volumes dealing with
Cornwall and it was only the matter of a moment to find the one to
which Isabel had referred. Bringing it to the light Harrison Smith
hastily turned over the pages until he came to the squared map that
showed the village of Polperro. But here disappointment awaited
him--for not a sign of the blue pencil mark showed upon the page. He
was on the point of closing the book when he made a discovery.

The light striking across the paper revealed the fact that the surface
in places bore a polished appearance. The reason was significant.
Barraclough, leaving nothing to chance,