THE CANTERBURY PUZZLES
they stood in relation to each other at the moment of impact, yet
they were free to revolve round the swivel in one piece, and
had been stupidly spun round several times by the servants before
Mr. Wiley Slyman was called upon the spot. But they would not
move separately.
Now, inquiries by the police in the neighbourhood led to the
arrest in London of a stranger who was identified by several persons
as having been seen in the district the day before the murder, but it
was ascertained beyond doubt at what time on the fateful morning he
went away by train. If the crime took place after his departure, his
innocence was established. For this and other reasons it was of
the first importance to fix the exact time of the pistol shot, the
sound of which nobody in the house had heard. The clock-face in
the illustration shows exactly how the hands were found. Mr.
Slyman was asked to give the police the benefit of his sagacity
and experience, and directly he was shown the clock he smiled and
said :
" The matter is supremely simple. You will notice that the three
hands appear to be at equal distances from one another. The hour
hand, for example, is exactly twenty minutes removed from the
minute hand—that is, the third of the circumference of the dial.
You attach a lot of importance to the fact that the servants have
been revolving the welded hands, but their act is of no consequence
whatever, for although they were welded instantaneously, as they are
free on the swivel, they would swing round of themselves into equili-
brium. Give me a few moments and I can tell you beyond any
doubt the exact time that the pistol was fired."
Mr. Wiley Slyman took from his pocket a notebook, and began to
figure it out. In a few minutes he handed the police inspector a
slip of paper, on which he had written the precise moment of
the crime. The stranger was proved to be an old enemy of
Mr. Mowbray's, was convicted on other evidence that was dis-
covered, but before he paid the penalty for his wicked act he
admitted that Mr. Slyman's statement of the time was perfectly
correct.
Can you also give the exact time ?
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