he authorities, they taking it for granted that
Singa Phut had killed Shere Ali and then ended his own life, by help
from outside in getting poison. So if Donovan thought anything about
the watch, he said nothing.

"Then you think Darcy is cleared of any connection with the poison
watch?" asked the colonel.

"I think so--yes," answered the jeweler. "As a matter of fact, I don't
believe Jimmie did any repair work on it at all. Singa Phut brought it
in to have it fixed, it is true, but Jimmie was a great chap for
promising work and then not having it ready on time. I've known him to
do that more than once, and he lost Mrs. Darcy customers that way. He
probably promised Singa Phut to have the watch ready for him, and then,
either in working on his pet invention, the electric lathe, or because
of his quarrel with his cousin, forgot about the East Indian's watch.
He may, as he says, have gotten up early to redeem his promise to
repair it."

"But he never did?" asked the colonel.

"It bears no evidence of it," and the jeweler focused his glass on the
dismembered timepiece.

"Do you think he knew the deadly nature of the watch?" went on the
detective.

"It is doubtful. This watch is of peculiar construction. As I have
showed you, the poison needle could only be made to protrude when the
watch reached a certain time, which time could be set in advance as an
alarm clock is set. I think this is what happened, though I may be
wrong.

"Singa Phut, for purposes of his own, had this poisoned watch in his
possession. He, of course, knew just what it would do, and how to set
it so that if a person, at a certain hour, took it into his or her
hands, and exerted any pressure on the rim, the needle would shoot out
and puncture the flesh. The poison on the point then caused death."

"And very speedy death," added the colonel. "Witness what happened to
poor little Chet. The watch was wound up--I wound it myself as a
matter of fact, though I did not dream that the time mechanism had
anything to do with the poisoned needle. Then the dog, playing with
it, as he would with a bone, bit on the rim, just at the time when the
needle was set to operate. It shot out, punctured his lip, and Chet
died."

"Did you know it was a poisoned watch?" asked Jack Young.

"I had guessed that after what happened, and that is why I warned
Donovan to be careful. But, as I said, I thought it was like a sword
cane or a spring dagger--that