“Quite a curiosity,” said the colonel at length.  “If you don’t mind, I should like to examine this a bit.”

“You can’t take it away,” said Donovan.  “I may need it as evidence when we get Mr. Phut, or whatever the Dago’s name is.”

“Oh, no, I wouldn’t think of taking it away.  I’ll look at it here.  It seems to be a very old timepiece—­one of the first made smaller than the old ’Nuremberg eggs I fancy.  Quite an interesting study—­watches—­Donovan.  Ever take it up?” and as the colonel questioned he was looking at the Indian timepiece under a magnifying glass he took from his pocket.

“Who?  Me study watches?  I should say not!  It keeps me busy enough here without that.”

“Yes,” went on the colonel musingly.  “This is an old-timer.  The first watches, you know, Donovan, were really small clocks, and some were so much like clocks that the folks who carried them had to hang them to their belts instead of carrying them in their pockets.  That was away back in the fifteenth century.”

“Before the Big Wind in Ireland,” suggested Thong with a nod at his Irish compatriot.

“Slightly,” laughed the colonel.  “But, all joking aside, this is quite a wonderful piece of work.  I shouldn’t be surprised but what it dated back to the time of Queen Elizabeth, though it has been repaired and remodeled since then to make it more up to date.  Probably new works put in.  Queen Elizabeth was very fond of watches and clocks, and her friends, knowing that, used to present her with beautiful specimens.  Some of the watches of her day were made in the form of crosses, purses, little books, and even skulls.”

“Pity this one wasn’t made that way—­like a skull,” mused Carroll, “seeing it’s been in on two deaths here and no one knows how many somewhere else.”

“That’s right,” agreed the colonel, as he continued to move his magnifying glass over the surface of the still ticking watch.  And a close observer might have observed that he did not touch his bare fingers to the timepiece, but poked it about, and touched it here and there, with the end of a leadpencil.

“Very interesting,” observed the colonel, as he passed the watch back to Donovan, still using only the flat, open palm of his hand on which to rest it.  “Very interesting.  And, Donovan, take a friend’s advice and don’t be too free with that watch.”

“Too free with it?” asked the surprised detective.

“Yes.  Don’t scratch yourself on it, whatever you do.”

“Why not?  Not that I’m likely to, for I never heard of being scratched by a watch, but why not?”

“Simply because this watch—­”

But at that moment the doorman of police headquarters stuck his head in “Scotland Yard,” as the patrolmen designated the inner sanctum where the detectives had their rooms, and called: 

“Donovan!”

“Hello,” answered the sleuth.

“Some one out here to see you.”