The detective was the one who drew back with surprise.
Quite naturally, of course, Doctor Dabney now began to suspect some ulterior motive for the detective’s conduct. He straightened up with a frown, saying a bit brusquely:
“This is no place for a jest, Mr. Ryder, as you should know without being told. If you are not what you pretend, and have any reason for thinking that this box contained a body, I beg to inform you——”
“One moment, doctor, if you please,” Nick interposed. “I will presently explain to your entire satisfaction.”
Nick turned over the box while he was speaking. He found on the lower side a blurred black address printed with a shipper’s marking brush. The wood still was damp and soiled with grayish clay, moreover, which alone would have convinced him that he had made no mistake.
Nick did not immediately explain to the physician, however, who stood watching him with a darker frown on his thin face. He saw that about a dozen of the students had gathered in the driveway near by, all of them men in the twenties, and among them the three whom he had seen talking so earnestly near the stable.
Nick stepped out and approached the group, apparently with no aggressive intentions, until, turning abruptly to one of the three, he said sternly:
“Well, what have you done with it?”
The man addressed was about twenty-five, and quite a powerful fellow, set up like an athlete, with dark features and somewhat sinister eyes.
“Done with what?” he demanded. “You appear to be addressing me.”