"Good!" said the detective, rising and stepping forward. "You said just what I wanted you to say. And you said it like a man who can wear an American uniform. Shake hands!" Harry Nichols did not exactly brighten under the professional flattery. He held out his fingers, however. Drew clasped his hand after transferring the revolver to his left palm. He twirled it as he stepped backward. "Clean," he said. "It don't seem to have been used for some time. But then, who knows? A gun can be wiped and polished,--even in the barrel,--in a very few minutes." Drew glanced at Nichols with a silent question in his eyes. Delaney had already sized Nichols up as a very clever young man. He was not far wrong, as he learned when the detective's spoken question was shot through determined lips. "Nichols," said Drew, "did you lend Miss Stockbridge this revolver? Is it yours? I shall have to turn it over to the police sooner or later. They will trace it by the number." "Is it fully loaded?" Drew turned the barrel with his broad thumb. He clicked the mechanism. He broke it and held it out. "Yes," he said. "Yes, it's fully loaded. This is still a merry whirl for six!" "Are you sure?" "Positive, Nichols!" The soldier's face cleared like a lake from a storm. He beamed upon Drew. He smiled for a second time. He pointed toward the chair which the detective had quitted. "Sit down," he said, "and make yourself at home. This is a temperance dugout, but I've got some real good soft stuff--grape juice or club soda. Which will you have?" "I'll take a cigar," said Delaney. Drew allowed a smile to creep over his lips. He waited as Harry Nichols dipped into a kitchenette, then came back with three glasses of soda and a huge black Havana. "Smoke up," he said good-naturedly to Delaney. "Light up and take a chair. It's daybreak, isn't it?" "Yes, time we're going," said Drew, setting his empty glass upon the offered tray. "We'll go in a minute. Now, as I told you and as you can see, this revolver is fully loaded. It looks clean. I suppose you lent it to Miss Stockbridge without any empty cartridges. These are the ordinary lead kind which can be secured at any hardware store. You've got some here, perhaps." "None here. They're all up at Plattsburg. We do some target shooting at times. These little revolvers don't make much noise. You can use them most anywhere." "That's satisfactory," said Drew, watching the glow of Delaney's cigar. "That's all right. Now, when she 'phoned for the gun or you suggested that she better have one with her, what did she say about the cemetery letter or the threat over the wire? Did she fear anything else? Was that her sole reason for having a revolver with her?"