us for
burglars, old chap!"

"The place is empty," I replied. "Our only fear is of the police. To
them we would be compelled to make an explanation--and that's just
what I don't want to do."

For some time we carefully searched, conversing only in whispers. My
hands were scratched, and stung by nettles, and Jack had his coat
badly torn by thorns. The garden had been allowed to run wild for all
the years since old Mrs. Carpenter's death, and the two ash trees had
spread until their thick branches overshadowed a large portion of the
ground.

Beneath one of these trees I suddenly halted as an ejaculation escaped
me. Near the trunk, and in such a position that it would not be seen
even from the windows of the house, yawned a hole, and at its side a
mound of newly-dug earth.

"Ah!" I cried. "This is what I've been in search of!" The discovery
revealed a ghastly truth. I shuddered at the sight of it.

"What, that hole?" asked Jack, in a low voice as we approached and
peered into it. I judged it to be about three feet or so in depth.
"What a funny thing to search for!"

"That hole, Jack, was intended for a man's grave!" I whispered
hoarsely, "and the man intended was _myself_!"

"You!" he gasped. "What do you mean, Owen?"

"I mean that that grave yonder was dug in order to conceal my dead
body," was my low, meaning answer. "And I fear--fear very much--that
the remains of others who have met with foul play have been concealed
here!"

"You mean that murder was actually intended!" he exclaimed in
astonishment. "When?"

"Last night. I was entrapped here and narrowly escaped."

"How? Tell me all about it," he urged.

"Later on. Not here," I said. "Let us see if there is any further
evidence of recent digging," and together we examined the ground
beneath the second tree.

Presently Jack in the course of searching about, came to a spot where
the ground seemed perceptibly softer. My stick sank in, while in other
parts the ground seemed hard. Beneath the trees the weeds and grass
grew thinly, and I presumed that the miscreants could work there under
the canopy of leaves without fear of observation.

I bent down and carefully examined the surface, which, for about four
feet square, bore plain traces of having recently been moved.

Something had evidently been interred there. Yet tiny fresh blades of
green were just springing up, as though grass-seed had been sprinkled
over in order to obliterate traces of the recent