ed mortar on the grass. Got over here, Mr. Narkom--yes, and cut
himself doing it. Hand, most likely; for there are bits of mortar with
broken glass stuck in 'em lying about and a drop of fresh blood on the
top of the wall!"

A single look was enough, when Mr. Narkom came hurrying to his side, to
verify all that had been said; and with an excited, "This way, all of
you. Look sharp!" the superintendent sprang up, gripped the broken top
of the wall, scrambled over it and dropped down into the darkness and
mist upon the other side. The others followed his lead, and the next
moment all were in the dark, walled-in enclosure in the middle of which
the long-abandoned house known as Gleer Cottage stood. They could see
nothing of it from where they were, for the mist and the crowded screen
of long-neglected fruit trees shut it in as with a curtain.

"Better let me go ahead and light the way, gents," said Constable
Mellish in an excited whisper, as he again unshuttered his bull's-eye
and directed its gleam upon the matted and tangled verdure. "Stout boots
and thick trousers is what's wanted to tramp a path through these
briars; them evening clothes of yours 'ud be torn to ribbons and your
ankles cut to the bone before you'd gone a dozen yards. Lummy! there's
another of his footprints--on the edge of that flower bed there! see!
Come on, come on--quick!"

Too excited and too much occupied with the work in hand to care who took
the lead so that they got through the place and ran their quarry to
earth, Narkom and the rest suffered the suburban constable to beat a way
for them through the brambly wilderness, while with bodies bent, nerves
tense as wire, treading on tiptoe along the trail that was being so
cautiously blazed for them, they pressed on after him.

Suddenly, without hint or warning, a faint metallic "click" sounded,
the light they were following went suddenly out, and before Narkom,
realizing that Mellish had sprung the shutter over the flame of his
lamp, could voice a whispered inquiry, the constable's body lurched back
against his own and a shaking hand descended upon his shoulder.

"Don't move, don't speak, sir!" said Mellish's voice close to his ear.
"We've got him right enough. He's in the house itself, and with a light!
There's a board or something put up against the window to shield it, but
you can see the light through the chinks--coming and going, sir, like as
he was carrying it about."

Startling as the stat