largely
unimpaired."

The coroner leaned nearer. "How further would you describe it?"

"It was a distinct cry for help," Fargo answered. "The word he said was
'Help'--I heard it distinctly. But it wasn't a cry of any one mortally
injured. If anything, it was a cry of--fear."

"Where did it come from?"

"From the lagoon."

The coroner's eyes snapped. "If you knew it was from the lagoon why did
you ask Mr. Killdare, when he encountered you last night, where it was
from."

Fargo stiffened, meeting his gaze. "I wasn't sure last night, Mr.
Weldon," he answered. "I knew it was somewhere in that direction. When
Mr. Killdare said it was from the lagoon I instantly knew he was right.
I can't say just how I knew. All the testimony I've heard to-day proves
the same thing."

"No one wants you to tell what other people have testified, Mr. Fargo,"
the coroner reproved him. "We want to know what you saw with your own
eyes and heard with your own ears and what you thought at the time, not
now. To go further. You think that the cry was uttered by a man whose
strength was unimpaired. A strong, full-lunged cry. Moreover, it was
given in deadly fear. Does that suggest anything in your mind?"

"I don't see what you are getting at."

"You say it was a long, full-voiced cry. Or did you say it was long?"

"I don't think I said so. It was rather long-drawn, though. It's
impossible to give a full-lunged cry without having it give the effect
of being long-drawn."

"You would say it lasted--how long?"

"A second, I should say. Certainly not more. Just about a second."

"A second is a long time, isn't it, Mr. Fargo, when a man stands at the
brink of death. Often the tables can be turned in as long a time as a
second. Many times a second has given a man time to save his life--to
prepare a defense--even to flee. Does it seem to you unusual that a man
would give that much energy and time to cry for help when he was still
uninjured, and still had a second of life."

"Not at all--under certain circumstances."

"What circumstances?"

"It would depend on the nature of the force. A man might see--that while
he still had strength left to fight, he wouldn't have the least chance
to win."

"Exactly. Yet if a man had time to call out that way, he'd at least have
time to run. A man can take a big jump in a second, Fargo."

Fargo's voice fell. "Perhaps he couldn't run."

"Ah!" The coroner paused. "Because he was in the grasp of his
assa