"Are you sure?" I cried hoa.r.s.ely, glancing at the same moment in the direction he had indicated.
"Certain. I saw the figure draw back as we pa.s.sed. My eyes don"t deceive me in the dark--I"m used to it."
"Then we"re betrayed!" I said breathlessly.
"Yes. That"s quite certain," was his hard response. "We"ve been watched--just as I feared."
CHAPTER FOUR.
IS ASTOUNDING.
To halt would be to reveal our visit to the wood to the village constable, therefore we sprang across a stile, skirted the gra.s.s land, keeping beneath the high hawthorn hedge, and emerging into the roadway just as the lights of the gig came around the bend.
"Halloa! doctor!" I shouted, as he approached with the constable at his side, and the groom behind.
"Who"s that?" he inquired, peering into the darkness.
"Hughes--Wilfrid Hughes," I answered, and a moment later he pulled up, and both Eric and I greeted him.
"We can go across the fields from here," Booth remarked. Therefore they all three descended, and leaving the groom with the horse, we allowed ourselves to be guided by the constable to the spot where the body was lying.
"I hope, gentlemen, you haven"t been waitin" long," said Booth, addressing us, as he lit the hurricane lamp he had brought.
"Not at all," declared Eric, quite unconcernedly, "but we"re naturally very anxious to ascertain who the poor fellow is."
"From what Booth says, it seems a clear case of murder," remarked Richards, the hard-working country pract.i.tioner.
"A mystery, evidently," said Domville. "Has no weapon been found?"
"We haven"t searched yet, sir," the constable replied. "We"ll have to wait till daylight."
And so, our way lit by the officer"s lantern, we went on past the dump of bushes where my friend declared that some person was in hiding. Both of us glanced across eagerly, but all was quiet--not a leaf stirred.
Who was concealed there, I wondered? I knew Eric Domville too well to doubt that his practised eye had been deceived.
I longed to go forward and search, but that was entirely out of the question. Some unknown person had witnessed our visit to the body. Our actions had been watched.
Presently, when we reached the spot, and the light shone upon the prostrate man, I was enabled to obtain my first clear sight of him.
The face, white and waxen in death, bore a hard, terrible look in the eyes, an expression that caused me to shudder. It was the look of one who shrank in awe and horror from the great Unknown. His clothes, a suit of rough, cheap dark tweed, the vest of which bore a large dark stain, showed evidence of hard wear, frayed at the elbows and cuffs, his linen was not over clean, and his boots bore traces of long tramping.
His cloth golf-cap had fallen off, and lay near, disclosing that his close-cropped dark hair was somewhat curly, while his face was clean-shaven, and around his collar was a dark blue cravat tied in a bow.
"I wonder who he is?" remarked Booth, as he bent down, and, opening his vest, disclosed the small shot-wound.
"I wonder," I echoed, at the same time feeling in my pocket the papers and other objects which no doubt would establish his ident.i.ty. I longed to return to the house and examine them.
"Shot clean through the heart!" exclaimed Richards, kneeling upon the carpet of dead leaves and making as thorough an examination as the fickle light afforded. "He must have fallen and died almost instantly."
"Could it have been suicide?" inquired Booth.
"I think not. Of course, he might have shot himself, but from the position of the wound I think not. Besides, where is the revolver?"
We looked about, but could not discover it, and at the same time Booth constantly urged upon us not to move about lest we might destroy any footmarks that would lead to a clue.
While Booth was searching the dead man"s pockets of course finding nothing, Eric noticed a light approaching up the road, and pointed it out.
"That"s the gov"nor on "is bike," declared the constable. "I left word with my missis to send "im up "ere. I"m glad "e"s come."
We awaited the arrival of the superintendent, a short, elderly, thick-set man in a dark suit, who spoke sharply to his officer, listened to the doctor"s opinion, and then proceeded to make a methodical examination for himself.
He held the lantern to the dead man"s face, and looked for some moments into his features.
"No. He"s a perfect stranger to me," the officer declared. "Was there nothing in his pockets?"
"Only some money, sir--a shillin" or two," answered the village policeman.
"On tramp, no doubt," and he examined the palms of both hands, feeling them with his fingers. "Not used to hard work--clean-shaven, too--done it to disguise himself probably. No razor?"
"No, sir."
"Found the revolver?"
"No, sir."
"Not searched yet, I suppose?"
"No, sir. I waited until you came, to hear your instructions."
"Quite right. You"d better move him down to the village, and when it"s light we"ll search all around." Then, turning to Richards, he added, "There"ll have to be an inquest, doctor. Shall we fix it for the day after to-morrow, at the Spread Eagle at Midhurst? Will that suit you?"
"Yes. I can make the post-mortem to-morrow," Richards said, and thus it was arranged.
"It"s a mystery--murder without a doubt," declared the superintendent a few minutes later, while chatting with the doctor. "How long has he been dead, do you think?"
"Eight or nine hours," I should say.
"Then it was done about dusk, you think?"
"Most probably."
"He was shot from the front, you notice, not in the back. Therefore, it seems quite evident that some secret meeting took place here before it grew dark. Bear that in mind, Booth, and make every inquiry to find out whether anybody was seen going over the fields."
"His lordship and his friends were about the farms a-shootin" all day,"
the constable replied.
"Yes," laughed Eric, "but we didn"t shoot with revolvers," at which we all three laughed.