"Even so, it seems likely that the fuse must have been boxed up tightly or it would have caught earlier."
"It certainly does to me, sir, though I haven't given the subject any thought."
"It is not a difficult one," said Shagarach. "Wouldn't you say, then, that this fire must have been started by some one who was ignorant that there was a bomb in the room in close proximity to the safe? Otherwise he would have lighted the fuse."
"Perhaps."
"And consequently by some one else than Floyd?"
"I object," said the district attorney. He ought to have objected long before, since Shagarach's previous question was wholly out of order, but his attention had been distracted by McCausland.
"If it had been the incendiary's desire to secure a gradual spread of the flames, so as to permit himself ample time to escape, while at the same time insuring the destruction of the safe, would it not have been prudent for him to apply the match at the other end of the room, as he appears to have done?" asked the district attorney. But Shagarach objected to this in his turn and the two questions were left unanswered, locking horns like tangled stags in the minds of the wondering jurors.
"May I add one further question to my cross-examination of Mr. Fowler?" asked Shagarach, when the fireman was dismissed.
"How long, Mr. Fowler, would it take for that bomb to explode after the tip of the fuse had ignited?"
"About a minute," answered the chemist.