“I don’t think so,” said Eldon Smith. “In fact, it’s impossible.”
“Impossible? How?”
“Dr. Colton, did it ever occur to you to look up the weather records for that night?”
“No.”
“I’ve looked them up. The wind was from the southeast. Your brother was less than a mile from the south shore. Mr. Ely was staying on the Sound shore, northwest of there, and almost directly down the wind. Now, how could the kites travel upwind from Ely to the place where your brother had his alarm?”
Colton shook his head.
“Moreover,” continued the reporter, “the mare when she rushed to destruction ran in the face of the wind. So the loose kites couldn’t have pursued her.”
“That’s true; but I see no reason why Ely mightn’t have walked across the point and flown from the ocean side that evening.”
“Here is what I copied from his calendar diary for that night: ‘Sept. 17th. Temperature notes of no value. Upper currents fluctuant. Flew from hillock 14 mile from Sound. Kites moving northward out over the Sound. Furled kites at 9:30.’ (The time of your brother’s experience more than two miles away.) ‘Results unsatisfactory.’ Is that definite enough?”
“Certainly, it seems so.”