Page:O'Higgins--The Adventures of Detective Barney.djvu/57

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THE BLACKMAILERS
41

possible orders. He turned to the word “thunder” in the dictionary. It was at the bottom of the first of the three narrow columns that filled the page. He studied it. He studied the words around it. He turned the page, and his eyes widened thoughtfully on the word “through” at the bottom of the third column. The line read “Through, (throo) prep. from.” And on the margin the point of a pencil had made a light indentation. He turned back to “Thunder”; and on the margin there, the pencil mark showed in a raised point.

He wrote, under the word “thunder” on his paper, the word “through.”

He turned to the word “command” in the dictionary, but after a prolonged scrutiny he wrote nothing.

He turned to “wind.” And he found, on the same page but in another column, the word “will” touched with a faint pencil mark. He sat back in his chair and his face became meditatively blank.