ascertain. They are certainly the murderers who have returned in secret
and concealed the evidence of this second crime."

"Yes," I said. "Let us go after them. They must not escape us."

Then, leaving the exhumed body beneath a tree, I caught Muriel by the
waist and waded across the deep channel worn by the stream at that
point, after which we both ascended the steep bank where the pair had
disappeared in the darkness of the wood.

I blamed myself a thousand times for not following them, yet my
suspicions had not been aroused until after they had disappeared. The
back of the man in a snuff-colored suit was, she felt confident,
familiar to her. She repeated what she had already told me, yet she
could not remember where she had seen a similar figure before.

We went on through the gloomy forest, for the light had faded and
evening was now creeping on. From time to time we halted and listened.
But there was a dead silence, broken only by the shrill cry of a night
bird and the low rustling of the leaves in the autumn wind. The men knew
their way, it seemed, even though the wood was trackless. Yet they had
nearly twenty minutes start of us, and in that time they might be
already out in the open country. Would they succeed in evading us? Yet
even if they did, I could describe the dress of one of them, while that
of his companion was, as far as I made out, dark blue, of a somewhat
nautical cut. He wore also a flat cap, with a peak.

We went on, striking straight for the open moorland which we knew
bounded the woods in that direction, and before the light had entirely
faded we found ourselves out amongst the heather with the distant hills
looming dark against the horizon. But we saw no sign of the men who had
so secretly concealed the body of their victim.

"I will take you back to the castle, Miss Leithcourt," I said. "And then
I'll drive on into Dumfries and see the police. These men must be
arrested."

"Yes, do," she urged. "I will get into the house by the stable-yard, for
they must not see me in this terrible plight."

It was rough walking, therefore at my invitation she took my arm, and as
she did so I felt that she was shivering.

"You are very wet," I remarked. "I hope you won't take cold."

"Oh! I'm used to getting wet. I drive and cycle a lot, you know, and
very often get drenched," was her reply. Then after a pause she said:
"We must discover who that woman was. She seems, from her complexion and
her hair