Jerry shuddered visibly.
'I saw nobody!'
'The major has been queer lately, poor chap. Perhaps he shot himself,' Blount suggested eagerly.
'Was not that a pistol you threw away?' another officer asked sharply.
Jerry lifted his eyes. Those familiar faces were pale and stern.
'You saw'—he faltered.
'Speak, lad!' Blount entreated.
'I cannot talk. I must have time to think.'
'The truth doesn’t need thinking. It requires plain telling.'
There ensued a silence, through which creaked the hurried approach of the surgeon’s boots.