“Wrong?” questioned Fallon, puzzled. “Why so?” Nick still had the bandage twined around his companion’s left hand. “Notice these bloodstains,” he replied. “They are not on the inside of the bandage, which would come next to a cut, or sore. They are on the outside of it.” “By Jove, that is a bit strange,” Fallon now declared. “The blood did not soak from a wound, moreover, for the layer of cloth beneath this outside one is perfectly clean, as you see.” “True.” “So, as you now can see, is the inside of the bandage, which came next to the hand,” Nick continued, removing it and displaying the inner side. “There is not a sign of blood, pus, salve, or liniment, as if it had been bound around a wounded hand. It is perfectly clean, in fact.” “Humph!” Fallon ejaculated, gazing at it with increasing perplexity. “There is no question as to your being right. It speaks for itself. But what in thunder do you make of it?” “The hand was not injured,” said Nick. “It may have been lame, or sprained.” “The bandage would not have been removed in that case, Fallon,” Nick replied. “If sufficiently lame to require a bandage, it would not have been removed when the man arrived here. No man about to attempt a desperate job with a lame hand would first weaken the hand by removing a bandage with which it had been protected, or strengthened.” “That’s true, also,” Fallon nodded. “You think it was worn by the assassin?” “I do.” “When he entered?” “No. Before he entered,” said Nick. “In order to have free use of his hand, he evidently tore off the bandage and string and threw them aside before he entered. Here are stains of blood on the string, also, proving that those on the bandage were on the outside of it, as I have already demonstrated.” “You’re right, Nick,” agreed Fallon. “There is no denying it.” “Take it from me, too, the man’s hand was not injured.” “But why that bandage, then?” “For some other reason,” Nick said dryly. “What that reason was, Fallon, remains to be learned. It would be a waste of time for us to try to guess it.” “I agree with you.” “The blood on the outside of the bandage evidently came from the man’s right hand, moreover, which I already have pointed out was stained, not after, but before he entered this door. This mysterious bandage confirms my previous deductions.” “By Jove, it’s a perplexing mess,” said Fallon, brows knitted. “I cannot fathom why the scoundrel’s right hand was soiled with blood before he entered this house. Why it afterward may have been is simple enough.” “Let’s go a step farther,” said Nick, thrusting the string and bandage into his pocket. He then began a careful examination of the veranda floor, but he could find no tracks, nor evidence of any description.