His plan had failed. He had thought to induce Denham to give himself away before the others, and that completely. But he had reckoned without the cool nerves of Denham. Well, the next card to play was bluff.
An opportunity was not easy to find. Most of the morning they sat in the shade, and smoked and chatted. But later, when Verna was busy indoors, and something had taken Ben Halse away, Stride said—
“I’ve got something to tell you. How about taking a bit of a stroll, where no one’ll hear us?”
“All right. Let’s.”
They strolled off together a little way. Suddenly Stride said—
“Rum thing this murder down in the Makanya, isn’t it?”
“I don’t know enough about it to say. But I suppose there’s no doubt about it being a murder?”
“Not a particle. Dickinson has worked the thing up in first-rate style. There’s hardly a link missing from the chain.”
“Not, eh? There’s a saying, though, that a chain is no stronger than its weakest link; but if the link is not merely weak but missing altogether, what’s the use of that chain?”
“The link can be supplied,” said Stride meaningly. “Dickinson could put his hand on the right man at any minute.”