ause the gun that the
man was shot with was found near the spot where he died. That gun,
captain, is identified as Halcro Ericson's."

"But surely ye canna convict the lad on such slight evidence, sir.
He's innocent, I'll swear!"

"I trust he may prove so, captain. But you must allow that the
evidence is against him. Colin has been shot dead, and with
Ericson's gun. Ericson is not to be found; no one knows where he
is. That is clearly against him; and as a magistrate I am bound to
arrest him on suspicion. In fact, I have already issued a warrant
for his arrest, and if you know anything of his whereabouts, just
say so, Davie; for the lad's not at his home, and his mother knows
nothing. They say he is out seeking for young Thora Kinlay; but it
seems clear to me that he has fled from the consequences of his
foul crime."

"Well," said Flett, "I have told you all I know, that the lad left
the schooner here before the snow came on so heavy. I have been
expecting him aboard all the day. I know no more, Mr. Duke, and
that's the truth."

At this point of my skipper's account we were interrupted by
Macfarlane, who put his head in at the door and said:

"Come away, Davie. I canna let ye stay longer, man."

"Ay, ay, just another minute, Jimmy," said Flett.

Then turning to me again, he continued: "Weel, I'm just away up to
Dominie Drever's. The dominie was aboard the Falcon just before the
Clasper came in yestreen, and I saw him again after ye were brought
here. He was up at Lyndardy this mornin' seeing your mother for
information about all your movements these two days past. And now
I'm to go up to the schoolhouse and tell him--what shall I tell
him, Halcro?"

"Just tell him this, Davie: that the last time I saw poor Colin
Lothian was when we were in Gray's Inn. That I went straight home
from the Falcon, and never left the house till the servant woman at
Crua Breck knocked me up to seek for Thora. That I was out looking
for her part of the night and all the morning, and then that I
climbed down the Gaulton Cliff, thinking I would find her in the
cave. There, instead of finding Thora, I was taken along with the
smugglers and brought in the Clasper to Stromness, where Bailie
Duke himself arrested me.

"There, that is the sum of it all. Tell it to Mr. Drever, and he
will believe it and understand."

"Very good," said the skipper, and then he left me.

He had not gone out many minutes before Jimmy Macfarlane came into