ole; at
least I examined it while he stood outside and shivered. It yielded an
even bigger find than I had hoped for. Chucked off in a corner and
trampled with mud I found the bonds. A pile of clothing and carriage
cushions formed a bed. There were the remains of several fires and of a
great many chickens--the whole place was strewn with feathers and bones;
he had evidently raided the roosts more than once.

"When I finished with the spring-hole it still lacked something of six
o'clock and I rode over to the village hoping to get an answer to my
telegram. I wanted to get Jeff's case settled. 'Miller's store' was not
open but 'Jake's place' was, and it was not long before I got on the
track of my man. There was no doubt but that I had him accounted for up
to the time of the thrashing; after that I could only conjecture. He
had not appeared in the village again; the supposition was that he had
taken to the woods. Now he might or he might not have come in the
direction of Luray. All the facts I had to go upon were, a man of
criminal proclivities, who owed Colonel Gaylord a grudge, and who was
used to hiding in caves. It was pure supposition that he had come in
this direction and it had to be checked at every point by fact. I didn't
mention my suspicions because there was no use in raising false hopes
and because, well--"

"You wanted to be dramatic," I suggested.

"Oh, yes, certainly, that's my business. Well, anyway I felt I was
getting warm, and I came over here this morning with my eyes open, ready
to see what there was to see.

"The first thing I unearthed was this story of the church social
provisions. There had, then, been a thief of some sort in the
neighborhood just at the time of Colonel Gaylord's murder. The further
theft of the boots fitted very neatly into the theory. If the fellow had
been tramping for a couple of days his shoes, already worn, had given
out and been discarded. The new ones, as we know, were too small--he
left them at the bottom of the pasture--and went bare-footed. The marks
therefore in the cave, which everyone ascribed to Mose, were in all
probability, not the marks of Mose at all. Actual investigation proved
that to be the case. The rest, I think, you know. The Four-Pools mystery
has turned out to be a very simple affair--as most mysteries
unfortunately do."

"I reckon you're a pretty good detective, Mr. Patten," said Mattison
with a shade of envy in his voice.

Terry bowed his than