“Did he choke his victims with his fingers?” asked Trim.
The chief shook his head.
“I think not,” he said. “There were marks upon the victim’s throat that proved strangulation beyond any shadow[Pg 3] of doubt, but they were not finger marks.”
“What were they, then?”
“We have always supposed that they were made by a bowstring.”
“That suggests,” said Trim, “that the murderer was a Chinese or a Malay, or some such fellow?”
“No. We thought that for a time, too, and every Chinese in the colony was under suspicion. We learned better. The murderer was a white man——”
“Then you finally got on to him?”
“Oh, yes. We learned a good deal about him and we know now where he is.”
“And you don’t try to capture him?”