“So we suppose; but it is partly on the testimony of these two that we believe it, corroborated by circumstantial evidence. Now, if Bruce killed the sailor, Serdholm knew it. The two guards quarrelled and fought. Bruce had reason to fear Serdholm. There’s the motive for the murder of Serdholm. He met him alone—there is opportunity. I think the case against him is stronger than that against Whalley, in this instance. I’ve looked into his movements on the night of the sheep-killing and the murder of Mr. Ely. He was out on the former, and in on the latter.” “That weakens the case,” said Everard Colton. “Yes; but what ruins the case against both Bruce and Whalley in the killing of Serdholm is this.” Haynes spread out on his table a map which he had drawn. “There is the situation, sketched on the spot. You will see that there are no footprints other than our own leading to or going down from the body. Gentlemen, as sure as my name is Haynes, the thing that killed Paul Serdholm never walked on human feet!” There was a dead silence in the room. Dick Colton’s eyes, narrowed to a mere slit, were fixed on the reporter’s face. Johnston’s jaw dropped and hung. Everard Colton gave a little nervous laugh. Professor Ravenden bent over the map and studied it with calm interest. “No,” continued Haynes, “I’m perfectly sane. There are the facts. I’d like to see anyone make anything else out of it.” “There is only one other solution,” said Professor Ravenden presently: “the fallibility of the human senses. May I venture to suggest again that there may be evidences present which you, in your natural perturbation, failed to note?” “No,” said the reporter positively. “I know my business. I missed nothing. Here’s one thing I didn’t fail to note. Johnston, you know this neck of land?” “Lived here for fifty-seven years,” said the innkeeper. “Ever hear of an ostrich farm hereabouts?” “No. Couldn’t keep ostriches here. Freeze the tail-faithers off’em before Thanksgiving.” “Professor Ravenden, would it be possible for a wandering ostrich or other huge bird, escaped from some zoo, to have its home on Montauk?” “Scientifically quite possible in the summer months. In winter, as Mr. Johnston suggests, the climate would be too rigorous, though I doubt whether it would have the precise effect specified by him. May I inquire the purpose of this? Can it be that the tracks referred to by the patrol were the cloven hoof-prints of-” “Cloven hoofs?” Haynes cried in sharp disappointment. “Is there no member of the ostrich family that has claws?” “None now extant. In the processes of evolution the claws of the ostrich, like its wings, have gradually——” “Is there any huge-clawed bird large enough and powerful enough to kill a man with a blow of its beak?” “No, sir,” said the professor. “I know of no bird which would venture to attack man except the ostrich, emu or cassowary, and the fighting weapon of this family is the hoof, not the beak.”