"Two or three," was the result after a short examination. "There's also some marks inside the edges of the keyhole itself. They're all very new; in this weather the brass would tarnish quickly, and these marks are perfectly bright." "Would a key be likely to leave those inside scratches?" The man shook his head. "I'm not an expert, sir, but I should say not, unless the original key had been lost and a carelessly made substitute used." "Thank you," said Teal, and sank upon his knees as if in prayer. He made a number of deep obeisances before the huge steel box, and then regained his feet with a sigh. "Keep off this bit of carpet," he ordered. "We shall want an expert on this." The expert was on the spot within fifteen minutes of Teal's telephone summons, and he came to a decision in a very short time. "This is either Prester John's or Grantor's work," he pronounced, and Teal was too hardened to the daily miracles of the police records department to show any surprise at the definiteness of his Holmesian piece of deduction. A number of micro-photographs were taken, and the fine specks of metallic dust which Teal had discovered on the carpet in his supplicatory attitude were carefully brushed up and placed in an envelope. The safe was also tested for finger-prints, the expert in that science going over it minutely with his grey powder and camel's hair brush, but nothing whatever rewarded his labours. "The extraordinary thing," he said, "is that there's no mark of any kind. If Raegenssen had touched the safe at all recently, he either wore gloves or wiped it with a rag afterwards." In an hour the plates had been developed and compared with similar close-ups classified in the colossal card-index system of the Records Office, and the unhesitating verdict was phoned through to Mr. Teal. The vote went to Prester John, and the somnolent detective became a perplexed and irritated man, for the fact upset every single one of his theories and dizzied him completely out of his bearings. After three thoughtful slabs of chewing-gum he rang up Storm, obtained permission, and then got through to the Yard and demanded the attendance of a third expert--a gentleman who in the past years had earned a comfortable income from his knowledge of safes until a false step and a term of confinement at His Majesty's expense had exacted from him due labour of hire already received, and (unusually enough) instilled into the said gentleman an enthusiasm for a more restful, if less remunerative and spectacular, employment on the lee side of the Law. On occasion, however, the ex-yegg had opportunities for the exercise of his craft without fear of retribution, and this was one of those occasions. "Open that money box," commanded Teal without preface, and the expert, after a practised survey, grinned superciliously.