“Look here, Graham!”
The young lawyer joined him at once and studied the spot on the brickwork which Landis indicated. Directly behind the target and on a level with the gold bull’s-eye the chimney bore a shallow indentation where some sharp blow had chipped away bits of brick, although the floor around it showed no trace of these chips.
In the center of the indentation there was a bright, metallic mark.
Graham turned back to the target. Through the bull’s-eye, near the edge of the gold, he found the hole which Landis had found. Among a few dents of a similar shape and size this one alone pierced the target.
“Right through and hit the chimney—hard!” Landis observed, “which explains that Japanese arrow down in the library that we found blunted—unless there’s some other perfectly natural explanation of this,” he added with a smile. “Were you up here on Tuesday with the others?”
“Yes. But I’m pretty sure nobody made that hole then. In fact, I’m certain. If one of our arrows had gone clean through the target we would have noticed it!”
“Well, somebody has been shooting pretty hard up here—somebody who could shoot hard! Look at this hole again. It’s sharply elliptical. The Japanese arrowheads are the same shape, like small spearheads. The mark on the chimney would just about fit that blunted arrowhead.”
“Practicing?” ventured the young lawyer in a lower tone. “Practicing! Good Lord, what a ghastly business!”
“Maybe so—which would make it look very much like an inside job, Graham! Who’s the best archer here?”