them to return it to me if they overtake me.'

Three minutes later I heard the car begin to move, and peeping
from behind the curtain caught sight of the two figures. One was
slim, the other was sleek; that was the most I could make of my
reconnaissance.

The innkeeper appeared in great excitement. 'Your paper woke
them up,' he said gleefully. 'The dark fellow went as white as death
and cursed like blazes, and the fat one whistled and looked ugly.
They paid for their drinks with half-a-sovereign and wouldn't wait
for change.'

'Now I'll tell you what I want you to do,' I said. 'Get on your
bicycle and go off to Newton-Stewart to the Chief Constable. Describe
the two men, and say you suspect them of having had something to do
with the London murder. You can invent reasons. The two will come back,
never fear. Not tonight, for they'll follow me forty miles along the
road, but first thing tomorrow morning. Tell the police to be here
bright and early.'

He set off like a docile child, while I worked at Scudder's notes.
When he came back we dined together, and in common decency I
had to let him pump me. I gave him a lot of stuff about lion hunts
and the Matabele War, thinking all the while what tame businesses
these were compared to this I was now engaged in! When he went
to bed I sat up and finished Scudder. I smoked in a chair till
daylight, for I could not sleep.

About eight next morning I witnessed the arrival of two