<P> A framed copy of a nursery rhyme, "Ten Little Niggers" (called "Ten Little Indians" or "Ten Little Soldiers" in later editions), hangs in every guest's room, and ten figurines sit on the dining room table . After supper, a gramophone (or "phonograph") record is played; the recording describes each visitor in turn, accuses each of having committed murder but escaping justice, and then asks if any of "the accused" wishes to offer a defence . All but Anthony Marston and Philip Lombard deny the charges, and Miss Brent refuses to discuss the matter . </P> <P> They discover that none of them actually knows the Owens, and Justice Wargrave concludes that the name "U.N. Owen" is shorthand for "Unknown". After the recording, Marston finishes his drink and immediately dies from cyanide poisoning . The remaining guests notice that one of the ten figurines is now broken, and the nursery rhyme appears to reflect the manner of death ("One choked his little self and then there were nine"). </P> <P> The next morning, Mrs Rogers' corpse is found in her bed; she had died in her sleep from an overdose of chloral hydrate . By lunchtime, General MacArthur is found dead, from a heavy blow to his head . Two more figurines are found to be broken, and again the deaths parallel the rhyme . Miss Brent relates the account of the gramophone charge against her to Vera Claythorne, who later tells the others . </P> <P> A search for Mr Owen shows that nobody else is on the island except the remaining seven . The island is a "bare rock" with no hiding places, and no one could have arrived or left; thus, they conclude that any one of the seven remaining persons is the killer . Wargrave leads the group in determining that so far, none of them can definitively be ruled out as the murderer . The next morning, Rogers is found dead while chopping wood, and after breakfast, Miss Brent is found dead in the kitchen, where she had been left alone after complaining of feeling unwell; she had been injected with potassium cyanide via a hypodermic needle . </P>

Where did everyone die in and then there were none