not in the storeroom. From another window I saw that on the
far side of the mill stood an old stone dovecot. If I could get there
without leaving tracks I might find a hiding-place, for I argued that
my enemies, if they thought I could move, would conclude I had made for
open country, and would go seeking me on the moor.

I crawled down the broken ladder, scattering chaff behind me to cover
my footsteps. I did the same on the mill floor, and on the threshold
where the door hung on broken hinges. Peeping out, I saw that between
me and the dovecot was a piece of bare cobbled ground, where no
footmarks would show. Also it was mercifully hid by the mill buildings
from any view from the house. I slipped across the space, got to the
back of the dovecot and prospected a way of ascent.

That was one of the hardest jobs I ever took on. My shoulder and arm
ached like hell, and I was so sick and giddy that I was always on the
verge of falling. But I managed it somehow. By the use of out-jutting
stones and gaps in the masonry and a tough ivy root I got to the top in
the end. There was a little parapet behind which I found space to lie
down. Then I proceeded to go off into an old-fashioned swoon.

I woke with a burning head and the sun glaring in my face. For a long
time I lay motionless, for those horrible fumes seemed to have loosened
my joints and dulled my brain. Sounds came to me from the house--men
speaking throatily and the throbbing of a stationary car. There was a
little gap in the parapet to which I wriggled, and from which I had
some sort of prospect of the yard. I saw figures come out--a servant
with his head bound up, and then a younger man in knickerbockers. They
were looking for something, and moved towards the mill. Then one of
them caught sight of the wisp of cloth on the nail, and cried out to
the other. They both went back to the house, and brought two more to
look at it. I saw the rotund figure of my late captor, and I thought I
made out the man with the lisp. I noticed that all had pistols.

For half an hour they ransacked the mill. I could hear them kicking
over the barrels and pulling up the rotten planking. Then they came
outside, and stood just below the dovecot arguing fiercely. The
servant with the bandage was being soundly rated. I heard them
fiddling with the door of the dovecote and for one horrid moment I
fancied they were coming up. Then they thought better of it, and went