If it got
out, it might hurt Gresham professionally. The fact is, Gresham has just
retained me to investigate the Rivers murder for him. That won't
interfere to any great extent with the work I'm doing here; if necessary,
I'll bring a couple of my men in from New Belfast to help me on the
Rivers operation." He broke off abruptly, catching a movement at the head
of the spiral, and lifted the pistol in his hand, as though showing it to
Gladys. "See," he went on, "it has two hammers and two nipples, but only
one barrel. It was loaded with two charges, one on top of the other; the
bullet of the rear charge acted as the breech-plug for the front
charge.... Oh, Walters!" He affected to catch sight of the butler for the
first time. "Bring me that .36 Walch revolver, will you?"
"Yes, sir." Walters, crossing the room, veered to the right and went
to the middle wall, bringing a revolver over to the desk. It was a
percussion weapon with an abnormally long cylinder. "The cocktails are
served," he announced.
"We'll be down in a moment; you can put these back where they belong when
you find time," Rand told him. "Now, here," he said to Gladys. "This is
the same idea, in a revolver. Six chambers, two charges in each.
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