e late, you will, no doubt, be able to overtake us
before we get there."

The next morning Frank was at the office half an hour before the
appointed time. Fortunately no snow had fallen in the night. The chief
constable looked grave and anxious when the search began; Frank was
excited rather than anxious. He had no fear whatever as to the result of
the investigation; it would disclose nothing, he felt certain, to
Julian's disadvantage. The continued absence of the latter was
unaccountable to him, but he felt absolutely certain that it would be
explained satisfactorily on his return.

The moment they got across the hedge into the fields skirting the wood
the chief constable exclaimed:

"Stay, men; here are footprints by the edge of the trees! Do not come
out until I have carefully examined them. Do you not think," he went on,
turning to Frank, "that it would be much better that you should not go
further with me, for you see I might have to call you as a witness?"

"Not at all, Mr. Henderson; whatever we find, I shall have no objection
to being a witness, for I am certain that we shall find nothing that
will tend to incriminate my brother. I see what you are thinking
of--that these footprints were Julian's. That is my own idea too. At any
rate, they are the marks of a well-made boot of large size, without
heavy nails."

The constable nodded. "There are two sets," he said, "one going each
way; and by the distance they are apart, and the fact that the heel is
not as deeply marked as the rest of the print, whoever made them was
running."

"Certainly," Frank agreed; "he ran up to the hedge and then turned. Why
should he have done that?"

"Probably because he saw some vehicle or some persons walking along the
road, and did not wish to be seen."

"Possibly so, Mr. Henderson; but in that case, why did he not keep among
the trees both coming and going, instead of exposing himself, as he must
have done running here; for the hedge is thin, and any one walking
along, much less driving, could have seen him."

Mr. Henderson looked at Frank with a closer scrutiny than he had before
given him.

"You are an acute observer, Mr. Wyatt. The point is an important one. A
man wishing to avoid observation would certainly have kept among the
trees. Now, let us follow these footprints along; we may learn something
further."

Presently they came to the point where Julian had come out from the
wood.

"You see he was in the wood, Mr