"Male, of course."
"You are sure of it?"
"Sure of it? Why, he was a man just as much as you are a man, or I am one."
"You are not a man—except in name," I rejoined (and the words made him wince) "so do not bring yourself into the comparison."
I made him give me a close description of the prisoner who had been confined in the black hole, and after listening to it, I could have no manner of doubt that the person was other than Mat Morris.
"And," volunteered Stanton, "moreover, he was a surly sort of a customer. We couldn't get a word out of him."
This tallied with Shadow.
I left Stanton still ironed, despite his prayers to at least have the handcuffs taken off.
"You deserve all the punishment you are enduring," I bitingly told him.
I no longer doubted that Mat Morris and the mysterious detective were one and the same person. All the evidence pointed toward that conclusion.