It was half-past five, I remember now.

The doctor said the judge was shot at a quarter of six." A startled look of comprehension flashed over his face.

He sprang to his feet and tramped up and down the small room.
"I know I saw Ricks," he thought, his brain seething with excitement.
"Annette saw him, too; she described him.

He couldn't have even driven back in that time." He stopped again and stood staring intently before him.

Then he took the lamp and slipped down the back stairs and out the side door.
The snow was trampled about the window and for some space beyond it.
The tracks had been followed to the river, the eager searchers keeping well away from the tell-tale footsteps in order not to obliterate them.