"
"If the room was dark, how could you tell it was white?"
"There was a faint light--enough to see that. There was no noise
--just a sort of swishing sound."
"What did you do then?"
"I waited a moment, and hurried back to the after house."
"Was the axe gone then?"
"I do not know."
"Did you see the axe at that time?"
"No."
"Did you touch it?"
"I have never touched it, at that time or before."
She could not be shaken in her testimony and was excused. She had
borne her grilling exceedingly well, and, in spite of her flippancy,
there was a ring of sincerity about the testimony that gave it weight.
Following her evidence, the testimony of Tom, the cook, made things
look bad for Singleton, by connecting him with Mrs. Johns's intruder
in the captain's room. He told of Singleton's offer to make him a
key to the galley with wire. It was clear that Singleton had been
a prisoner in name only, and this damaging statement was given weight
when, on my recall later, I identified the bunch of keys, the file,
and the club that I had taken from Singleton's mattress. It was plain
enough that, with Singleton able to free himself as he wished, the
attack on Burns and the disappearance of the axe were easily enough
accounted for. It would have been possible, also, to account for
the white figure that had so alarmed the men, on the same hypothesis.
Pages:
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185