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Rh upon it, he discharged his revolver in the dark. Of course, when he found that the emerald really had been taken, it would be impossible to convince him afterward that he had not actually heard the thief. We have now, merely by interpolating a certain amount of time between the theft and the firing of the shots, made an explanation of the affair seem more possible, and we ought to begin our examination by inquiring who could possibly have known how to open the box."

"But," Max urged in astonishment, "it seems to me that to awake in the night and fire a revolver at nothings—that iss a strange thing for anybody to do!"

"No," McAdams defended. "For a precisely similar affair had occurred only the night before, and recollection of that, per-