No bombs are
exactly safe toys to have around until they are wholly destroyed,
and before you can say you have destroyed one, it is rather a
ticklish business to take out the dangerous element."
He had removed the cover in the deftest manner without friction,
and seemingly without disturbing the contents in the least. I do
not pretend to know how he did it; but the proof was that we could
see him still working from our end of the room.
On the inside of the cover was roughly drawn a skull and cross-
bones, showing that the miscreant who sent the thing had at least
a sort of grim humour. For, where the teeth should have been in
the skull were innumerable match-heads. Kennedy picked them out
with as much sang-froid as if he were not playing jackstraws with
life and death.
Then he removed the explosive itself and the various murderous
slugs and bits of metal embedded in it, carefully separating each
as if to be labelled "Exhibit A," "B," and so on for a class in
bomb dissection. Finally, he studied the sides and bottom of the
box.
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