a who could have done such a
thing? Kinlay, there, for instance?"

"He might have done it, sir, but not in winter."

"How, then, do you account for Kinlay getting into the cave?"

"I suppose, sir, that he had my ropes;" and I pointed to the coil
of rope on the table.

"Now, further, do you recognize this gun?"

"Yes; it is mine."

"When did you last use it?"

"Two days before I went away in the Falcon, more than two months
since."

There was a pause here and a passing of the snuffbox. Bailie Duke
then turned to Kinlay, holding the viking's stone in his fingers.

"Have you ever had this curious stone in your possession, Kinlay?"
he asked.

"Yes; I got it from my sister," replied Tom.

"Ericson," asked Mr. Duke, "how came the stone in your possession
on Saturday?"

"Jessie and I found it at the head of the Cliff," I said. "It was
that which made me believe that Thora was in the cave. She got the
stone from me before I went away, and I thought she had maybe
dropped it as she was getting over the cliff."

"But what on earth could the lass want in the cave?" asked Mr.
Thomson.

"She was unhappy at home," I explained, "and had threatened to run
away. I supposed she had taken refuge in the cave."

"Kinlay," said Mr. Duke, touching the coil of rope, "did you at any
time make use of these lines to climb down the Gaulton cliffs?"

Tom was silent.

"If you do not care to tell us that, then, perhaps, you will say if
you happened to make use of this gun on the night on which Colin
Lothian met his death?"

Tom became perceptibly confused.

"Mr. Duke," exclaimed Bailie Thomson, "what in the world are you
driving at?"

"I'm driving at the truth, Mr. Thomson," said Bailie Duke calmly,
"and I think I see it. In the first place, you will observe, sir,
that no motive whatever has been found which would induce Halcro
Ericson to raise his hand against poor Colin Lothian. Now, on the
contrary--and I can prove this by witnesses if you wish--it is
certain that Kinlay had a quarrel with Lothian on the very day of
the murder. Lieutenant Fox, who was witness of that quarrel, will
be able to tell the reason of it. The reason was simply
this--nothing else but this, Mr. Thomson--that it was Colin who let
it out about the smuggling. It was what Lothian said in Oliver
Gray's inn that morning which led the officer to believe that
Carver Kinlay kept a store of illicit whisky in the Gaulton Cave.
Is that so, Mr. Fox?"

"It