"What a wicked-looking weapon!" he declared, drawing back with a shudder.
Silk closed his fingers over the haft.
"Ever seen anything like it before!" he inquired.
Dan shook his head.
"Never."
"Neither have I," said the sergeant. "At least, not in Canada. It's the sort of thing you might come across in a museum. I'd say it was of Moorish workmanship. Dare say some Bedouin Arab once carried it in his waist-belt, riding across the desert, as we ride across the plains with our revolvers."
"You're going to keep it as a curiosity, I suppose?" Dan surmised. "Where did you pick it up? Buy it? Have it given you?"
"Found it," returned the soldier policeman, puffing slowly at his pipe. "Found it 'way back in the forest. What I'm trying to figure out is the problem of who left it there, yesterday, see?"
"Yesterday?" repeated Dan, in wonder at this precision as to time.