There could be no doubt that the man had cut his finger on a nail as he had climbed over on his murderous errand.  The next and more important thing was to decide how this information was to be made useful to me.  Since nothing had been taken from the house, and the old man had been quite unprepared for the attack that was to be made upon him, I set the whole crime down as being one of revenge.  In that case what would the assassin be likely to do after his object was obtained?  Would he vanish into the Bush forthwith, or get away by sea?

After I had finished my inspection of the fence I visited every public-house in the neighbourhood in the hope of finding out whether a man with a wounded hand had been seen in any of them on the night of the murder.  I was totally unsuccessful, however.  No one recollected having seen such a man.  From the hotels I went to various chemists’ shops, but with the same result.  Next I tried the shipping-offices connected with the lines of steamers leaving the port, but with no more, luck than before.  The case seemed rapidly going from bad to worse, and already it had been suggested that I should give it up and return to my duty without further waste of time.  This, as you may naturally suppose, I had no desire to do.

I worried myself about it day and night, giving it a great deal more attention in fact than I should bestow upon such a matter now, or even upon cases of twice the importance.  If there had been nothing else in my favour, my attention to duty should have been sufficient to have commended me to my superiors.  It was the other way round, however.  The Press were twitting the authorities concerning their inability to discover the murderer, and more than hinted at the inefficiency of the Detective Force.  When I had been engaged upon the matter for about a fortnight, and with what success I have already informed you, the Commissioner sent for me, and told me that he did not think my qualifications were sufficiently marked to warrant my being employed longer on the task in hand.  This facer, coming upon the top of all the hard work I had been doing, and possibly my nerves were somewhat strained by my anxiety, led me to say more than I intended.  Though a man may have the bad luck to fail in a thing, he seldom likes to be reminded of it.  It was certainly so in my case.  Consequently I was informed that at the end of the month my connection with the Queensland Police would terminate.

“Very well, sir,” I said, “in the meantime, if you will give me the opportunity, I will guarantee to catch the murderer and prove to you that I am not as incapable as you imagine.”

I have often wondered since that I was not ordered back to the Bush there and then.  The fact remains, however, that I was not, and thus I was permitted to continue my quest unhindered.