“They bolted at once?”
Massey nodded.
“Yes,” he answered. “They rushed to the window, tore down the curtain in their haste, and took to their heels through the grounds.
“The report of the revolver had aroused the household,” he continued, “and, in a remarkably short time, the servants were scouring the grounds in all directions. Two of them saw a man in the act of mounting a motor cycle in the little lane at the back here. They tried to capture him, but he got away, and from that day to this nothing more has been seen or heard of any of the five of them.”
“The man whom your servants saw in the lane—was he one of those in the study?”
“Apparently not. My people describe him as a young man of rather foreign appearance, wearing a dark-blue suit. There was no such man in this room. It seems clear to me that he was the one who was posted outside the window, and who fired at me.”
“He escaped, you say, on a motor cycle? How did the others get away?”
“The police have a theory that they came here in a motor car, in which they afterward made their escape. If is only a theory, however. At least, there doesn’t seem to be any proof. There was a heavy thunder shower an hour or two later, and that may have obliterated the marks of the car.”
“They left the jewels behind, I understand.”
“Yes, and they also left their apparatus and the leather bag in which they were about to pack the jewels when I disturbed them. Would you like to see the things?”