Hushed silence followed. Jimmie was thinking, “What sort of person is this Silent Terror? Is he short or tall, dark or light? Will he be masked? How are we to know him? What distinguishing mark does he bear that will brand him for the future? What——”
“Why, Jimmie!” Scottie broke in upon his thoughts, “there’s nothing on this ribbon of yours!”
“Noth—nothing,” Jimmie stammered. Then, excitedly, “Yes, sure there is. Just one picture! There at the end. It—it’s coming through!”
“So it is!” said Scottie. At once he devoted all his attention to that end of the film.
“Think of wasting a whole film on one little picture,” Scottie murmured.
“Money well spent,” put in Tom Howe. “There’s a thousand dollar reward on that man’s head.”
Eagerly they crowded together for a look as Scottie held the tiny square to the light.
“He’s there!” John Nightingale whispered.
“Wait,” cautioned Scottie the veteran. Many a picture had he seen go wrong in the making.
Sensing the tense excitement about him and consumed by a desire to tease a little, Scottie held the film in the solution for what to the watchers seemed an endless period of time.
“There,” he drew a long breath at last. “She should be done to a turn.”
Holding the film up with one hand, he examined it through a large magnifying glass.
“Jimmie! Jimmie!” he exclaimed. “I might have known it! You got only his ear. Why in time didn’t you ask the gentleman to turn around?” The laugh that followed was mirthless. Scottie had wanted to see Jimmie succeed.
“Must be a profile,” said John hopefully.
“Nope. See for yourselves,” Scottie held out the glass. “Only an ear.”
“More than that,” said Tom Howe after a look. “There’s a shoulder and the back of the neck. There’s as much character shown in a man’s neck as in the shape of his nose.
“And that ear!” he exclaimed after a closer look. “It’s priceless, that picture. There’s not another ear in the world like it. Jimmie, allow me to congratulate you.” He gripped the boy’s hand tightly.
“All right,” sighed Scottie. “Since it’s important we’ll wash it, then put it in the fixin’ bath and make it permanent.”
“And, Scottie,” Tom Howe put in eagerly, “just as soon as you can, make me an enlargement, big as the negative will stand. Will you?”