will
live or ever regain consciousness is another question."

"One you can't answer?"

"The blow, as you can see,"--Sinclair touched the man's face with his
deft finger-tips,--"fell mostly on the cheek and temple. The cheekbone
is fractured. He is in a complete state of coma; and there may be some
fracture of the skull. Of course, there is some concussion of the
brain."

Any inference to be drawn from this as to the seriousness of the
injuries was plainly beyond Connery. "How long ago was he struck?" he
asked.

"Some hours."

"You can't tell more than that?"

"Longer ago than five hours, certainly."

"Since four o'clock, then, rather than before?"

"Since midnight, certainly; and longer ago than five o'clock this
morning."

"Could he have revived half an hour ago--say within the hour--enough to
have pressed the button and rung the bell from his berth?"

Sinclair straightened and gazed at the conductor curiously. "No,
certainly not," he replied. "That is completely impossible. Why did
you ask?"

Connery avoided answer.

The doctor glanced down quickly at the form of the man in the berth;
then again he confronted Connery. "Why did you ask that?" he
persisted. "Did the bell from this berth ring recently?"

Connery shook his head, not in negation of the question, but in refusal
to answer then. But Avery pushed forward. "What is that? What's
that?" he demanded.

"Will you go on with your examination, Doctor?" Connery urged.

"You said the bell from this berth rang recently!" Avery accused
Connery.

"I did not say that; he asked it," the conductor evaded.

"But is it true?"

"The pointer in the washroom, indicating a signal from this berth, was
turned down a minute ago," Connery had to reply. "A few moments
earlier, all pointers had been set in the position indicating no call."

"What!" Avery cried. "What was that?"

Connery repeated the statement.

"That was before you found the body?"

"That was why I went to the berth--yes," Connery replied; "that was
before I found the body."

"Then you mean you did not find the body," Avery charged. "Some one,
passing through this car a minute or so before you, must have found
him!"

Connery attended without replying.

"And evidently that man dared not report it and could not wait longer
to know whether Mr.--Mr. Dorne, was really dead; so he rang the bell!"

"Ought we keep Dr. Sinclair any longer from the examination, sir?"
Connery now