"
"Hello!" interjected Jack, who had picked up a sheet of paper from
the floor.
"Found something?" asked the judge; "what is it?"
"What do you make of that?" asked Jack, handing him the paper.
"Not very much," answered the judge, looking it over. "There seems
to be a smudge of dirt on it, that is all."
"Nor I," chimed in the officer. "Nothing there."
"Looks to me like finger marks," said Rand.
"That's it, exactly!" cried Jack excitedly. "Look at it this way!"
"I see," said the judge, "some one has left the impression of a
dusty hand."
"It was a small hand, too," went on Jack, "not much bigger than
mine."
"That seems right, too," assented the judge, "but what do you make
of it?"
"It was a boy or a small man who made it," continued Jack.
"That's logical," agreed the judge, "but--"
"That may be," criticized the officer, "but I don't see that it
leads anywhere."
"One minute," returned Jack, "his hand was dusty because he came
in through a dusty way."
"Plato, thou reasoneth well," laughed the judge, "but we are still
up against the original puzzle.
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