"It strikes me it was not scratched by accident."
Hodge started and whistled.
"Do you imagine these marks were made here intentionally and deliberately?"
"Doesn't it seem that way?"
"Well, it is not impossible."
"If they were made there deliberately and intentionally, cut by some instrument that could mark that hard stone, doesn't it stand to reason that the one who made them did not do all that work for nothing?"
"Of course."
"Then those marks may mean something."
"By jingoes! you are right!"
"This may be known to the man in black, which makes him so fierce to obtain the ring."