inexplicable. There was, he soon discovered, a sort of greasy,
oleaginous deposit in the clotted blood of the huge cavity in the
flesh. It interested him, and he studied it carefully for a long
time, without saying a word.

"Some have said she was wounded by some kind of blunt instrument,"
put in the coroner. "Others that she was struck by a car. But it's
my opinion that she was killed by a rifle bullet of some kind,
although what could have become of the bullet is beyond me. I've
probed for it, but it isn't there."

Garrick finished his minute examination of the wound without
passing any comment on it of his own.

"Now, if you will be kind enough to take us around to the place
where the body was discovered," he concluded, "I think we shall
not trespass on your time further."

In his own car, the coroner drove us up the road in the direction
of the New York state boundary to the spot where the body had been
found. It was a fine, well-oiled road and I noticed the number and
high quality of the cars which passed us.

When we arrived at the spot where the body of the unfortunate girl
had been discovered, Garrick began a minute search. I do not think
for a moment that he expected to find any weapon, or even the
trace of one. It seemed hopeless also to attempt to pick out any
of the footprints. The earth was soft and even muddy, but so many
feet had trodden it down since the first alarm had been given that
it would have been impossible to extricate one set of footprints