"Hickory," resumed Byrd, a few minutes later, "Orcutt has not rested the defence upon this one point without being very sure of its being unassailable."
"I know that."
"He has had more than one expert make that run during the weeks that have elapsed since the murder. It has been tested to the uttermost."
"I know that."
"If you succeed then in doing what none of these others have, it must be by dint of a better understanding of the route you have to take and the difficulties you will have to overcome. Now, do you understand the route?"
"I think so."
"You will have to start from the widow's door, you know?"
"Certain."
"Cross the bog, enter the woods, skirt the hut—but I won't go into details. The best way to prove you know exactly what you have to do is to see if you can describe the route yourself. Come into my room, old fellow, and let us see if you can give me a sufficiently exact account of the ground you will have to pass over, for me to draw up a chart by it. An hour spent with paper and pencil to-night may save you from an uncertainty to-morrow that would lose you a good ten minutes."
