“What!” exclaimed Scanlon.
“Look!”
Ashton-Kirk held the sword, hilt up, and with the flat of it toward them. To the amazement of the big man, he saw lettered in black ink, down the length of the closely wrapped string:
W
A
T
C
H
S
C
A
N
L
O
N
CHAPTER XXII
IN WHICH A MATTER OF MUCH INGENUITY IS CONSIDERED
“HELLO!” said Bat, his eyes almost bulging at the sight. “What the dickens is that?”
For answer the crime specialist unwound the string, drew another from the many in Scanlon’s hands, and wrapped it around the blade in turn. Once more he held up the weapon and now they read:
T
O
N
I
G
H
T
“I get it,” said the big man, “not all, but some. Those packages sent Miss Hohenlo had nothing at all that was worth looking at inside; it was outside that their interest lay. In the string.”
“I think,” said the girl, wonderingly, “I’ve heard of some such a thing as this before. But it never occurred to me to apply it in this case.”