e is now?
Run below, Barney; and, gentlemen, disperse yourselves in different
directions and give me your opinion. Now!" he demanded after a few
minutes' wait, during which there had been a scattering to right and left
along the galleries, "what do you say?"

"If anyone chanced to be looking directly there, yes," was shouted up
from below.

"What do you say, Coroner Price?"

"Ask the man to kneel."

The Inspector gave the word.

"Ah, that's different! The bulge of the vase hides the upper part of his
head, and the pedestal itself the lower. He might shoot from his present
position with impunity."

"Do you all agree?"

"Yes, yes!" came from different parts of the building.

"Then, Mr. La Fleche, here's another arrow from the same quiver. Take
fresh aim and shoot."

Another breathless moment--more breathless than the other; then a second
arrow flew across the court and hung quivering in the breast of the
dummy.

From both ends of the gallery men came running, and leaning eagerly over
the gallery-rail they watched the Coroner as he stepped again into view
to make a second examination.

This time he kept them several minutes in suspense, and when he had drawn
out the arrow, he looked long at the hole it had made. Then, instead of
shouting his decision across the court, he could be seen leaving the
gallery and coming around their way.

What had he to say? As they waited, a clock struck from some neighboring
steeple--three sonorous peals! The two directors glanced at each other.
Doubtless they felt the weirdness of the hour as well as of the occasion.
It was a new experience for these amateurs in police procedure.

Arrived on their side, the Coroner advanced quickly. When close upon the
reassembled group, he remarked quickly but with great decision:

"Mr. Travis seems to have been correct in denying that the arrow flew
either from before or behind this pedestal. The first arrow sent by Mr.
La Fleche entered the dummy almost at a right angle; the last departed
but a little from this same line. But the real wound which I probed and
located to a hair was a decidedly slanting one. It must have been sent
from a place further off."

"From behind the other pedestal!" spoke up Mr. Gryce, all fire and
interest at once. "Either the Englishman deceived us, or each pedestal
had its man."

"We'll see! Another shot, and from behind the further pedestal, Mr. La
Fleche!"

The Indian glided into view and started for th