there, which the people about here call the Shepherd's Path. Now the
murderer must have known that he was coming, and waited upon the cliff
to keep a lookout. When he saw Mr. Hearn enter the bay, he came down the
path and attacked him, and, after a tough struggle, succeeded in
stabbing him. Then he turned and went back up the path. You can see the
double track between the path and the place where the struggle took
place, and the footprints going to the path are on top of those coming
from it."

"If you follow the tracks," said Dr. Burrows, "you ought to be able to
see where the murderer went to."

"I'm afraid not," replied the sergeant. "There are no marks on the path
itself--the rock is too hard, and so is the ground above, I fear. But
I'll go over it carefully all the same."

The investigations being so far concluded, the body was lifted on to the
stretcher, and the cortège, consisting of the bearers, the Doctor, and
the fisherman, moved off towards the Gap, while the sergeant, having
civilly wished us "Good-evening," scrambled up the Shepherd's Path, and
vanished above.

"A very smart officer that," said Thorndyke. "I should like to know what
he wrote in his notebook."

"His account of the circumstances of the murder seemed a very reasonable
one," I said.

"Very. He noted the plain and essential facts, and drew the natural
conclusions from them. But there are some very singular features in this