"You, accordin' to your testimony, were sitting on the top of the north gable with a telescope. You were watching the hunt, You heard the shout Fleet gave. Now lemme read you a part of your statement verbatim."
H.M. found the passage and ran his finger down it
I looked round. I saw something pitch over the little ledge, but it was so quick I did not see what it was. I looked—
H.M. paused abruptly. There was a space of silence, while Martin found the sweat stand out on his forehead.
"Y’see," H.M. said very gently, "that second sentence just can't possibly be true."
"Why not?"
"I'll tell you. If there's one thing of general agreement, it's that Fleet gave a shout and immediately fell. If you doubt that, see the testimony of Simon Frew, who had the binoculars on the middle gable and is admittedly an honest witness.
"But what about you? You were on the north gable, watching the hunt: either the hounds streakin' to the north, or the field galloping round Black Hanger to the east You heard a yell: that's all. You couldn't have known where it came from, except somewhere behind you. You couldn't have known what it meant By the time you could swing that telescope round, Fleet must have been dead on the flagstones.
"Yet you claim, see, that out of all the space of sky and land comin' round into view through your telescope, you managed to pick out the exact spot where Fleet was standing just as he fell. Son, it won't do. It's plain ridiculous."
Again there was a silence.