The American translated and Harcourt picked up the weapon.
"Correct. Ask him where he saw it."
Then Hammer received a surprise.
"I saw it two days ago, effendi—no, it was four days ago, two days after effendi was drunk and you hit him very hard. I was cleaning the brasswork. I saw the little black man come near me, and there was a bad place in the brass. I asked him if he had a knife, for I had none, and he lent me this one. I remember the nick in the blade, for Allah willed that it scratch my thumb."
Startled, Hammer made the man repeat his statement to make sure there was no mistake and that he had understood correctly; then he translated for the others. He saw Krausz dart a single flaming glance at Solomon, which the latter seemed not to note, and then Harcourt spoke up:
"Ask him who he means by the little black man."
The Arab could not say, except that he would know the man again; but Hammer felt no doubt in his own mind that Jenson was indicated, and summoned the latter. Upon his arrival the Arab identified him at once.
"That is the man, effendi. If he says that the knife is not his, then he is a——"
The Arab's opinion of Jenson coincided more or less with that of Hammer, but the American cut short the Hood of expletives and ordered the man to stand aside.
"Gentlemen," said Harcourt gravely, "this situation would be laughable were it not so deuced serious. One man states that Mr. Solomon had the knife when he left Malta; Solomon denies having ever seen it before; another man states that Mr. Jenson had it since that time. You will have noted that the Arab recognized the blade by its slight nick, of which he could have had no previous knowledge. In my opinion neither witness is to be doubted."