Too late Martin saw the flaw in his argument But Masters dismissed the matter.
"What I really wanted to say," he declared, this also being a lie, "was I've got lost in this ruddy mist. How can I get back to the Dragon?"
This is a landmark,’’ Jenny assured him, putting her hand on the fence. "Follow this, no matter how far it seems to go, and you'll come to the main road. Then turn right and follow the main road. You cant miss it"
"Well, now, miss, I'm much obliged!" Masters' fatherly heartiness was overpowering. "The fence, eh? Not a countryman myself." His look at Martin was almost a sardonic wink. "Good day to you!" He followed the line of the fence a few feet; then turned round.
"By the way, Mr. Drake. Have you got the time?" '
"It's getting on towards five."
"Ah!" Masters shook his head regretfully. "Pity! Bit too early to wake up Dr. Laurier. I wanted to know whether that blood on the dagger is human blood."
"What blood?" cried Jenny.
But Masters, at the deliberate walk he had never lost since he was a policeman on a beat, had disappeared into the mist Jenny's eyes asked Martin the same question.
"It's a joke," he growled. Like other things, he had forced the matter of that dagger out of his consciousness; shut the lid on it. "Just some horseplay at the prison. That fellow," he snarled, "was only trying to scare you when he didn't know a thing. Let's forget it"