see. Must have been a
handsome chap--once.... Well, we'll have to get this very gruesome find
back to the Towers as quickly as possible. Got your oilskin with you,
Petrie?"

"Yessir!" Petrie miraculously produced the roll from under his tunic and
spread the sheet out. Then they lifted up the body and wrapped it about
so that the covering hid the awfulness of it from view. Mr. Narkom mopped
his forehead with his handkerchief.

"Cinnamon, Cleek!" he ejaculated, breathlessly. "Pretty awful, isn't it?
Was it much hidden, Petrie? Funny the other people didn't find it when
they searched!"

"No, sir--plain as a pikestaff!" returned Petrie importantly, for he felt
the burden of responsibility and hoped that this would mean promotion.
Dollops, who was by no means a regular member of the force, simply looked
at Cleek with considerable pride fighting through the natural horror that
the find had given birth to.

"Funny thing!" broke in Cleek at this juncture. "The only solution must
be that the body was placed there some time _after_ death.... Leave it a
little longer, boys, and we'll have a further search in this direction.
We may come upon poor Collins in a similar fashion--though thank Heaven
his disappearance didn't happen quite so long ago."

They took a few steps farther in the same direction and--stopped
simultaneously. Before their eyes lay the figure of Collins, in his
discreet black clothes, his red head against a tuffet of moss, and a
bullet wound in his temple.

"God!" said Cleek, softly, and sucked in his breath. "Two of 'em. And
like this!... Looks like a plant, doesn't it? Poor chap!... And yet
Merriton declared that he, as well as others, had searched every inch of
this ground over and over again. Seems fishy. To find 'em both here--so
close together.... Let's have a look at the other poor chap.... Hmm.
Bullet wound through the right temple, too. Small-calibre revolver."

He bent down and examined the head carefully through his magnifying
glass, then got slowly to his feet.

"Well, Mr. Narkom," said he, steadily, "nothing to be done at present,
but to get these bodies back to the Towers. After that they can take 'em
to the village mortuary if they like. But I've one or two things I'd like
to ask you Merriton, and one or two things I want to examine. Gad! it's a
beastly task, boys. That sheet's big enough, thank fortune! Cross the
pitchforks, Petrie, and make a sort of stretcher out of them, that way.
That'