morbid vapors;
therefore, my business finished, and immune from suspicion in my
character of a London pedestrian, I set out to obtain that vital
information which I lacked.

A natural taciturnity rendered mine host of the Abbey Inn a difficult
subject for interrogation. Moreover that patriarchal outlook which had
been evidenced in his attitude towards the uncouth Edward Hines
clearly enough deterred him from imparting to me any facts detrimental
to the good name of Upper Crossleys. But on the highroad and just
before entering the outskirts of the little country town, I had
observed an inn which had seemed to be well patronized by the local
folks, and since your typical country tap-room is a clearing-house for
the gossip of the neighborhood, to "The Threshers" I made my way.

The doors had only just been opened; nevertheless as I set my foot
upon the step I met the very gossip that I sought.

"Hope you wasn't caught in the shower, this morning, sir?" said an old
man seated solitary in an armchair in the corner of the bar-parlor.
"But the country'll be all the better for the rain." He eyed me, and:
"There's many a fine walk hereabouts," he averred. "There's lots
comes down from London, especially of a Sunday."

"No doubt," said I encouragingly, stepping up to the counter.

"There's Manton-on-the-Hill," continued the ancient. "You can see the
sea from there in clear weather; and many's the time in the war I've
heard the guns in France from Upper Crowbury of a still night. Then,
four mile away, there's the old Friar's Park; though nobody's allowed
past the gate. Not as nobody wants to be," he added reflectively.

"How is that? I understood that Friar's Park was of great interest."

"Oh, ah!" murmured my acquaintance. "Oh, ah! Maybe you was thinkin' of
lookin' over it like?"

"I was--yes."

"Oh, ah! Well--there's some likes a bit o' danger."

"Danger?" I echoed. "To what danger do you refer?"

He surveyed me with cunning, old rheumy eyes, and:

"What about man-traps?" he inquired. "Ain't man-traps dangerous? And
what about shot-guns? Shot-guns can make a party feel sick, can't
they? Oh, ah!"

"But," I exclaimed, "you surely don't mean that there are traps laid
in the grounds of the Park? It isn't legal. And why should any one
shoot at visitors?"

"Maybe 'cause they're told to," he shouted. "Aye--that's the reason as
like as not; 'cause they're told to."

"Who are 'they'?"

"Old Gipsy Hawkins as used to b