Again that diabolical laugh, and Bucholz, holding out his right arm without a tremor of the muscles, replied, ironically:
"Oh, no; I have got no nerve at all."
The next day they referred again to the finding of the articles hidden in the ground, and Sommers informed his companion that Mr. Olmstead had secured the axe that was in the barn, and regretted very much that he had not taken it when he was there.
Bucholz looked troubled at this information, but, rousing himself, he inquired:
"What kind of an axe did you get?"
"Why, I got one as nearly like that in the barn as I could—about as thick as the iron bars on the door of the cell there."
"Yes, that is right," said Bucholz, eagerly, while a glow of satisfaction dashed across his face.
"I don't know about that," replied Sommers. "How large were the wounds upon the head of Mr. Schulte?"
"One was about three inches long."
"Was that the wound that was made by the sharp edge of the axe?"