ay before I could convey my
knowledge to anyone else. He got his chance when I went out, for he
knew my habits, and where I was bound for. I have had a narrow shave,
Peterson, and it is mere luck you didn't find me on your doorstep in
the morning. I'm not a nervous man as a rule, and I never thought to
have the fear of death put upon me as it was to-night."

"My dear boy, you take the matter too seriously," said his companion.
"Your nerves are out of order with your work, and you make too much of
it. How could such a thing as this stride about the streets of Oxford,
even at night, without being seen?"

"It has been seen. There is quite a scare in the town about an escaped
ape, as they imagine the creature to be. It is the talk of the place."

"Well, it's a striking chain of events. And yet, my dear fellow, you
must allow that each incident in itself is capable of a more natural
explanation."

"What! even my adventure of to-night?"

"Certainly. You come out with your nerves all unstrung, and your head
full of this theory of yours. Some gaunt, half-famished tramp steals
after you, and seeing you run, is emboldened to pursue you. Your fears
and imagination do the rest."

"It won't do, Peterson; it won't do."

"And again, in the instance of your finding the mummy case empty, and
then a few moments later with an occupant, you know that it was
lamplight, that the lamp was half turned down, and that you had no
special reason to look hard at the case. It is quite possible that you
may have overlooked the creature in the first instance."

"No, no; it is out of the question."

"And then Lee may have fallen into the river, and Norton been
garrotted. It is certainly a formidable indictment that you have
against Bellingham; but if you were to place it before a police
magistrate, he would simply laugh in your face."

"I know he would. That is why I mean to take the matter into my own
hands."

"Eh?"

"Yes; I feel that a public duty rests upon me, and, besides, I must do
it for my own safety, unless I choose to allow myself to be hunted by
this beast out of the college, and that would be a little too feeble.
I have quite made up my mind what I shall do. And first of all, may I
use your paper and pens for an hour?"

"Most certainly. You will find all that you want upon that side table."

Abercrombie Smith sat down before a sheet of foolscap, and for an hour,
and then for a second hour his pen travelled