“Magneto trouble; armature burnt out.”
“What caused it?”
“It’s hard to say; there was no defect showing outwardly. Careless handling, most likely. Some darned mechanic might have jabbed a screwdriver into the wire and covered up the mark. I’ve known that to happen.”
“But it surely wouldn’t run if that had been done?”
“Oh yes, it might. If the insulation wasn’t completely cut through it would run for a time. But eventually the short would develop, causing the engine to misfire, and that would get worse till it stopped altogether.”
“That’s interesting. Then you think the fault would only develop if there had been some original injury?”
“I don’t say that. I have known cases of short circuits occurring and you couldn’t tell what caused them.”
“I suppose you could do that sort of thing purposely if you wanted to?”
“Purposely?” Mr. Makepeace shot a keen glance at his questioner.
“Yes. Suppose in this case some one wanted to play a practical joke on Mr. Berlyn.”