which might be useful in the quest they were after. He could, as it
were, "smell death." If any one was dead, if any one had died, or if a
place had been used in connection with death, he seemed to know the broad
fact by intuition. Adam made up his mind that to test this faculty with
regard to several places would be his first task. Naturally he was
anxious, and the time passed slowly. The only comfort was the arrival
the next morning of a strong packing case, locked, from Ross, the key
being in the custody of Davenport. In the case were two smaller boxes,
both locked. One of them contained a mongoose to replace that killed by
Lady Arabella; the other was the special mongoose which had already
killed the king-cobra in Nepaul. When both the animals had been safely
put under lock and key, he felt that he might breathe more freely. No
one was allowed to know the secret of their existence in the house,
except himself and Davenport. He arranged that Davenport should take
Oolanga round the neighbourhood for a walk, stopping at each of the
places which he designated. Having gone all along the Brow, he was to
return the same way and induce him to touch on the same subjects in
talking with Adam, who was to meet them as if by chance at the farthest
part--that beyond Mercy Farm.

The incidents of the day proved much as Adam expected. At Mercy Farm, at
Diana's Grove, at Castra Regis, and a few other spots, the negro stopped
and, opening his wide nostrils as if to sniff boldly, said that he
smelled death. It was not always in the same form. At Mercy Farm he
said there were many small deaths. At Diana's Grove his bearing was
different. There was a distinct sense of enjoyment about him, especially
when he spoke of many great deaths. Here, too, he sniffed in a strange
way, like a bloodhound at check, and looked puzzled. He said no word in
either praise or disparagement, but in the centre of the Grove, where,
hidden amongst ancient oak stumps, was a block of granite slightly