Then he examined the body minutely. In the pockets were found a wallet containing a large sum of money, a massive, old-fashioned gold watch with a chain running from pocket to pocket of the waist-coat. Upon the little finger of Hume's left hand was a magnificent diamond.
"Worth two thousand if it's worth a cent," appraised Osborne.
"If the criminal had meant robbery these things would unquestionably have been taken," commented the young coroner. "Eh, Curran?"
"That is a very safe rule to go by, Mr. Stillman," replied his assistant, with the utmost stolidity.
Through his big lenses the coroner gazed curiously at the bronze haft protruding from the dead man's chest.
"A bayonet," said he. "Not a common weapon in a crime like this. In fact, I should say it was rather in the nature of an innovation."
"It probably belonged in Hume's stock," suggested Osborne. "There seems to be about everything here."
But Stillman shook his head.
"We have already about concluded that the intention of the criminal was not robbery," stated he. "And now, if we make up our minds that the bayonet belonged to Hume—that the assassin, in point of fact, came here without a weapon—it must be that he did not intend murder either."
"Maybe he didn't," ventured Osborne. "There might have been a sudden quarrel. The person who struck that blow may have grabbed up the first competent looking thing that came to his hand."