There could have been no
such thing as illuminating gas, nor have we found any trace of any
receptacles which might have held poison. I can't seem to make it
out."
Kennedy bent over the body and looked at it attentively for
several minutes, while we stood back of him, scarcely uttering a
word in the presence of this terrible thing.
Deftly Kennedy managed to extract a few drops of blood from about
the wound and transfer them to a very small test-tube which he
carried in a little emergency pocket-case in order to preserve
material for future study.
"You say the dagger was triangular, Norton?" he asked finally,
without looking up from his minute examination.
"Yes, with another blade that shot out automatically when you knew
the secret of pressing the hilt in a certain way. The outside
triangular blade separated into three to allow an inner blade to
shoot out."
Kennedy had risen and, as Norton described the Inca dagger, looked
from one to the other of us keenly.
"That blade was poisoned," he concluded quietly. "We have a clue
to your missing dagger. Mendoza was murdered by it!"
II
THE SOLDIER OF FORTUNE
"I should like to have another talk with Senorita Inez," remarked
Kennedy, a few minutes later, as with Dr.
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