rged to the crop, would rise before him and flap wearily away, and he
would come upon the murderer's latest victim.

The Dalesmen were in despair, so utterly futile had their efforts been.
There was no proof; no hope, no apparent probability that the end was
near. As for the Tailless Tyke, the only piece of evidence against him
had flown with David, who, as it chanced, had divulged what he had seen
to no man.

The 100 pound reward offered had brought no issue. The police had done
nothing. The Special Commissioner had been equally successful. After
the affair in the Scoop the Killer never ran a risk, yet never missed a
chance.

Then, as a last resource, Jim Mason made his attempt. He took a holiday
from his duties and disappeared into the wilderness. Three days and
three nights no man saw him.

On the morning of the fourth he reappeared, haggard, unkempt, a furtive
look haunting his eyes, sullen for once, irritable, who had never been
irritable before--to confess his failure. Cross-examined further, he
answered with unaccustomed fierceness: "I seed nowt, I tell ye. Who's
the liar as said I did?"

But that night his missus heard him in his sleep conning over something
to himself in slow, fearful whisper, "Two on 'em; one ahint t'other. The
first big--bull-like; t'ither--" At which point Mrs. Mason smote him a
smashing blow in the ribs, and he woke in a sweat, crying terribly, "Who
said I seed--"

* * * * *

The days were slipping away; the summer was hot upon the land, and with
it the Black Killer was forgotten; David was forgotten; everything
sank into oblivion before the all-absorbing interest of the coming Dale
trials.

The long-anticipated battle for the Shepherds' Trophy was looming close;
soon everything that hung upon the issue of that struggle would be
decided finally. For ever the justice of Th' Owd Un' claim to his
proud title would be settled. If he won, he won outright--a thing
unprecedented in the annals of the Cup; if he won, the place of Owd Bob
o' Kenmuir as first in his profession was assured for all time. Above
all, it was the last event in the six years' struggle 'twixt Red and
Gray It was the last time those two great rivals would meet in battle.
The supremacy of one would be decided once and for all. For win or lose,
it was the last public appearance of the Gray Dog of Kenmuir.

And as every hour brought the great day nearer, nothing else was talked
of in the