“Yes,” cried the doctor. “What was he after?”

“He was examining a deep indentation in the ground beneath the shrubbery that just fits a man’s head and shoulders as it would strike were the man falling headlong.”

“Headlong? From the empty air?”

“From the empty air,” assented the other.

“You mean that his kites were a sort of flying-machine?”

“It may be. Or he may have become entangled in the lines and carried up after vainly struggling through the shrubbery.”

“But the wound? Could he have struck on some sharp-pointed stake, and wriggled off in his death convulsions?” mused Colton.

“You’re a physician. Could he?”

“No, no, a thousand times no!”

“Well?”