more thorough examination of the region round about. I forget, however, by
what ingenious train of reasoning it was that "Old Charley" finally
convinced the assembly that this was the most injudicious plan that could
be pursued. Convince them, however, he did -- all except Mr. Pennifeather,
and, in the end, it was arranged that a search should be instituted,
carefully and very thoroughly, by the burghers en masse, "Old Charley"
himself leading the way.

As for the matter of that, there could have been no better pioneer than
"Old Charley," whom everybody knew to have the eye of a lynx; but,
although he led them into all manner of out-of-the-way holes and corners,
by routes that nobody had ever suspected of existing in the neighbourhood,
and although the search was incessantly kept up day and night for nearly a
week, still no trace of Mr. Shuttleworthy could be discovered. When I say
no trace, however, I must not be understood to speak literally, for trace,
to some extent, there certainly was. The poor gentleman had been tracked,
by his horses shoes (which were peculiar), to a spot about three miles to
the east of the borough, on the main road leading to the city. Here the
track made off into a by-path through a piece of woodland -- the path
coming out again into the main road, and cutting off about half a mile of
the regular distance. Following the shoe-marks down this lane, the party
came at length to a pool of stagnant water, half hidden by the brambles,
to the right of the lane, and opposite this pool all vestige of the track
was lost sight of. It appeared, however, that a struggle of some nature
had here taken place, and it seemed as if some large and heavy body, much
larger and heavier than a man, had been drawn from the by-path to the
pool. This latter was carefully dragged twice, but nothing was found; and
the party was upon the point of going away, in despair of coming to any
result, when Providence suggested to Mr. Goodfellow the expediency of
draining the water off altogether. This project was received with cheers,