“It certainly does. Now, about the aerologist. What was the cause of death?”
“It might have been either the stab-wound or the crushing of the skull.”
“The skull was badly crushed?”
“Yes, and the right arm and shoulder were fractured.”
“From what cause?”
“My reading of it is this: Whalley, crazy with desire to murder, crept up on this poor fellow. Ely heard or saw him coming and fled into the oak patch; but Whalley’s knife-throw cut him down. Then the juggler, in a murderous frenzy, beat his victim with a heavy club.”
“Picked up his body and flung it to the spot where it was found?” suggested the reporter as a conclusion.
“What do you mean? No man could throw a body that far.”
“That would be my judgment.”
“No,” mused Dick. “Whalley must have carried the body out and dropped it where it was found.”