Landis nodded and led his companions into the library where they found Sergeant Forbes still on guard by the Japanese armor and the doctor pacing slowly up and down in front of the fire. Landis paused between the two platforms and stared down the long room toward the doorway where Harrison had been shot. Nothing interrupted his view of it.
Bernard came to a halt, following the glance of the younger man, a half-smile twitching at his grim lips. Graham stopped also and looked from one detective to the other.
Abruptly Landis took out his handkerchief, turned to the Japanese quiver and, without touching them with his hands, carefully withdrew the arrows it contained. He laid them gently across his coat sleeve, examined them at close quarters and beckoned his companions.
The warhead of one of the arrows was badly blunted. At the other end of this arrow a tiny bit of feather had been ripped off close to the shaft and was missing.
Bernard looked and smiled. “Score one to you, perhaps!” he rumbled. “That’s first-class reasoning!”
Landis laid the damaged arrow near the bow and restored the others to the quiver. Then he walked to the big desk, sat down and put through a call to the city. Bernard and Graham joined the doctor by the fire, where they heard Landis urging someone to come at once.
“Look here,” Graham murmured to Bernard, “how in the world could he guess that one of those arrows was blunted? And what does it go to prove?”
“Second question first,” answered Bernard, smiling. “I don’t know what it will prove. As to his guess, it’s a fairly long shot down the room. If anybody planned to shoot Harrison from back there by the door, he might want to make sure he could shoot straight with that bow and one of those arrows. So he might find or make an opportunity to test his skill with them—somewhere else. But an arrow is pretty big to hide successfully. His practice arrow might be missed. Therefore, he might restore it to the quiver and hope no one would notice it. It was good reasoning and probably correct. That arrowhead was blunted recently. It’s still shiny.”
Graham looked his astonishment. “Great guns! I knew you fellows were keen—but—