e top of the bluff the three men went carefully over the
ground, even descending the steep path to the margin of the river.

"There," said Bertrand, "the notebook was picked up on that flat rock
which juts out from that narrow ledge. John Walters crawled along the
ledge to get it. The handkerchief was caught on that thorn shrub,
halfway up, see? And the pencil was picked up down here, somewhere."

The Elder looked up to the top of the bluff and down at the rushing
river beneath, and as he looked he seemed visibly to shrink and become
in the instant an old man--older by twenty years. As they climbed back
again, his shoulders drooped and his breath came hard. As they neared
the top, Bertrand turned and gave him his aid to gain a firm footing
above.

"Don't forget that we can't always trust to appearances," he urged.

"Some heavy body--heavier than a clod of earth, has gone down there,"
said the Elder, and his voice sounded weak and thin.

"Yes, yes. But even so, a stone may have been dislodged. You can't be
sure."

"Ay, the lads might have been wrestling in play--or the like--and sent
a rock over; it's like lads, that," hazarded Mr. Walters.

"Wrestling on the Sabbath evening! They are men, not lads."

Mr. Walters looked down in embarrassment, and the old man continued.
"Would a stone leave a handkerchief clinging to a thorn? Would it
leave a notebook thrown down on yonder rock?" The Elder lifted his
head and looked to the sky: holding one hand above his head he shook
it toward heaven. "Would a stone leave a hat marked with a bloody
hand--my son's hat? There has been foul play here. May the curse of
God fall on him who has robbed me of my son, be he stranger or my own
kin."

His voice broke and he reeled backward and would have fallen over the
brink but for Bertrand's quickness. Then, trembling and bowed, his two
friends led him back to the carryall and no further word was spoken
until they reached the village, when the Elder said:--

"Will you kindly drive me to the bank, Mr. Ballard?"

They did so. No one was there, and the Elder quietly unlocked the door
and carried the articles found on the bluff into the room beyond and
locked them away. Bertrand followed him, loath to leave him thus, and
anxious to make a suggestion. The Elder opened the door of a cupboard
recessed into the wall and laid the hat on a high shelf. Then he took
the stick and looked at it with a sudden awakening in his eyes as if
he saw it