He shot Jacobi—more than once—but Jacobi was too tough to either fall or drop the falcon, and he was too close for Wilmer to keep out of his way. He knocked Wilmer down and ran on. And this was in broad daylight, you understand, in the afternoon. When Wilmer got up he could see a policeman coming up from the block below. So he had to give it up. He dodged into the open back door of the building next the Coronet, through into the street, and then up to join us—and very fortunate he was, sir, to make it without being seen.
“Well, sir, there we were—stumped again. Miss O’Shaughnessy had opened the door for Mr. Cairo and me after she had shut the window behind Jacobi, and she—” He broke off to smile at a memory. “We persuaded—that is the word, sir—her to tell us that she had told Jacobi to take the falcon to you. It seemed very unlikely that he’d live to go that far, even if the police didn’t pick him up, but that was the only chance we had, sir. And so, once more, we persuaded Miss O’Shaughnessy to give us