was going; he
had no baggage nor nuthin', and my orders are not to haul anybody except
people of the hotel: so he came right forward through the 'bus and took
the seat behind me and said 'twas all right, he was going to the hotel;
and he passed up a half-dollar. I told him that I couldn't take the
money,--that 'bus-fares were paid at the office,--and drove ahead. Then
he handed me a cigar, and pretty soon he asked me if there were many
people, and who had the cottages; and when I told him, he asked which
was Colonel Maynard's, but he didn't say he knew him, and the next thing
I knew was when we got here to the hotel he wasn't in the 'bus. He must
have stepped back through all those passengers and slipped off up there
on the bench. He was in it when we passed the little brown church up on
the hill."

"What was he like?"

"I couldn't see him plain. He stepped out from behind a tree as we drove
through the common, and came right into the 'bus. It was dark in there,
and all I know is he was tall and had on dark clothes. Some of the
people inside must have seen him better; but they are all gone to bed, I
suppose."

"I will go over to the hotel and inquire, anyway," said Armitage, and
did so. The lights were turned down, and no one was there, but he could
hear voices chatting in quiet tones on the broad, sheltered veranda
without, and, going thither, found three or four men enjoying a quiet
smoke. Armitage was a man of action. He stepped at once to the group:

"Pardon me, gentlemen, but did any of you come over in the omnibus from
the station to-night?"

"I did, sir," replied one of the party, removing his cigar and twitching
off the ashes with his little finger, then looking up with the air of a
man expectant of question.

"The watchman tells me a man came over who was making inquiries for
Colonel Maynard. May I ask if you saw or heard of such a person?"

"A gentleman got in soon after we left the station, and when the driver
hailed him he went forward and took a seat near him. They had some
conversation, but I did not hear it. I only know that he got out again a
little while before we reached the hotel."

"Could you see him, and describe him? I am a friend of Colonel
Maynard's, an officer of his regiment,--which will account for my
inquiry."

"Well, yes, sir. I noticed he was very tall and slim, was dressed in
dark clothes, and wore a dark slouched hat well down over his forehead.
He was what I would call a mili