“You don’t mean you think that——” Jimmy paused.
“I do mean just that. But before I say more, let me ask you something. Was Bixton in the squad room all last evening while I was out?”
“I don’t remember.” Jimmy frowned reflectively. “Let me think. I saw him sitting on his cot around seven o’clock. After that——”
“He did go out,” interrupted Roger. “I saw him go. It was about half-past seven, I guess. He came back in a great hurry, too, about ten minutes before Taps sounded. I was just turning in. You fellows were both in bed. I was thinking about poor Schnitz when I saw Bixton and Eldridge hustle in.”
“He’s done it then; queered Schnitz just as he threatened.” Bob’s accusation contained savage conviction. “He put that stuff in Schnitz’s suitcase some time during the night. It would be a cinch for him, because he bunks next to Schnitz.”
“But how and where could he get the glass in such a hurry?” demanded Jimmy. “There’s the list, too. Bixton’s not smart enough to make any such list himself. Besides, he wouldn’t be able to get hold of a book on poisons in this camp, and he certainly wasn’t away from camp in that short time.”
“Those are some of the things we must figure out.” Bob’s lips set in a straight line. “This is no joke. It’s a life or death proposition for Schnitz. Very well. Now we’re going to keep close mouths and run this thing down.”
“Let’s go to the K. O. and tell him about it,” proposed Jimmy eagerly. “He’d take it up in a hurry.”
“Where’s your proof to back it?” shrugged Bob. “You can’t accuse a man offhand of such a serious thing. No; we must watch and wait and work, and spring the trap on Bix just the way he watched and waited, and sprang the trap on Schnitz.”
“We might be too late to do any good,” demurred Roger gravely.