“On account of the marks that Whalley showed you?” “Not that alone. Just consider all the weak points in the theory that Whalley is guilty of all the crimes. First: why should he confess part and not all?” “That’s not unusual.” “But have you ever known such a case where the murderer was as frank as Whalley? How are you going to ascribe any part in Petersen’s death to the juggler? He couldn’t have thrown his knife in that blackness.” “I suppose it must have been done aboard the vessel before the man left in the breeches-buoy.” “The evidence of the sailors is all against that. However, let it go at that. How about the sheep? Why did he kill that?” “For food. He was camping somewhere on the knolls, and he had to eat.” “And he was frightened away before he could make way with the carcass? Well, that’s tenable. Now we come to the unhorsing of my brother. That might have been caused by poor Ely’s kites, as I figure it. They broke away, came zigzagging past and frightened the mare into insanity. Afterward they scared her over the cliff.” “I don’t think so,” said Eldon Smith. “In fact, it’s impossible.” “Impossible? How?” “Dr. Colton, did it ever occur to you to look up the weather records for that night?” “No.” “I’ve looked them up. The wind was from the southeast. Your brother was less than a mile from the south shore. Mr. Ely was staying on the Sound shore, northwest of there, and almost directly down the wind. Now, how could the kites travel upwind from Ely to the place where your brother had his alarm?” Colton shook his head. “Moreover,” continued the reporter, “the mare when she rushed to destruction ran in the face of the wind. So the loose kites couldn’t have pursued her.” “That’s true; but I see no reason why Ely mightn’t have walked across the point and flown from the ocean side that evening.” “Here is what I copied from his calendar diary for that night: ‘Sept. 17th. Temperature notes of no value. Upper currents fluctuant. Flew from hillock 14 mile from Sound. Kites moving northward out over the Sound. Furled kites at 9:30.’ (The time of your brother’s experience more than two miles away.) ‘Results unsatisfactory.’ Is that definite enough?” “Certainly, it seems so.” “It certainly does. Now, about the aerologist. What was the cause of death?” “It might have been either the stab-wound or the crushing of the skull.” “The skull was badly crushed?” “Yes, and the right arm and shoulder were fractured.” “From what cause?” “My reading of it is this: Whalley, crazy with desire to murder, crept up on this poor fellow. Ely heard or saw him coming and fled into the oak patch; but Whalley’s knife-throw cut him down. Then the juggler, in a murderous frenzy, beat his victim with a heavy club.” “Picked up his body and flung it to the spot where it was found?” suggested the reporter as a conclusion. “What do you mean? No man could throw a body that far.” “That would be my judgment.”