"The previous outrages!" cried Sir John. "Dammit! how did they help you?"
"They all took place about the time the moon was at the full. There were twenty-eight in all." Malcolm Sage felt in his pocket and drew out a paper. "These are the figures."
In his eagerness Sir John snatched the paper from his hand, and with
Inspector Wensdale looking over his shoulder, read:
Day before full moon . . . . 4
Full moon . . . . . . 15
Day after . . . . . . 7
Second day after . . . . . 2
—
Total 28 . . . . . . 28
"Well, I'm damned!" exclaimed Sir John, looking up from the paper at
Malcolm Sage, as if he had solved the riddle of the universe.
The inspector's only comment was a quick indrawing of breath.
Sir John continued to stare at Malcolm Sage, the paper still held in his hand.
"That made matters comparatively easy," continued Malcolm Sage. "The outrages were clearly not acts of revenge upon any particular person; for they involved nine different owners. They were obviously the work of someone subject to a mania, or obsession, which gripped him when the moon was at the full."
"But how did you fix the actual spot?" burst out Inspector Wensdale excitedly.
"Each of the previous acts had been either in a diametrically opposite direction from that immediately preceding it, or practically on the same spot. For instance, the first three were north, east, and south of Hempdon, in the order named. Then the cunning of the perpetrator prompted him to commit a fourth, not to the west; but to the south, within a few yards of the previous act. The criminal argued, probably subconsciously, that he would be expected to complete the square."