r had left him the first clew. Daly was not the man to act on a
hasty conclusion without trying to verify it, and Lawrence's suit-case
was still at Peebles. It was possible that he had already gone south,
but there was a chance that he had not passed through Carlisle yet and
Foster durst not neglect it.

Dusk was falling when he loitered about the handsome bridge. Lights
began to twinkle in the gray bulk of the castle across the park, and
along the Stanwix ridge, which rose above the waterside to the north.
The gleam faded off the river, but it was not quite dark and there was
not much traffic. Daly did not come and Foster, who was getting cold,
had begun to wonder how long he should wait when a bright light flashed
out at the top of the hill across the bridge.

A car was coming down the hill and Foster stopped behind a tramway
cable-post and took out his pipe as if he meant to strike a match.
Just then a tram-car rolled across the bridge and the motor swerved
towards the spot where he stood. It passed close enough for him to
have touched it, and he saw Daly sitting beside the driver, and two
ladies behind. He could not distinguish their faces, for the car sped
across the bridge and a few moments later its tail light vanished among
the houses that ran down to the river.

Foster set off after it as fast as he could walk. Daly would not go to
the station, because there was no train south for some time, and the
two hotels where motorists generally stayed were not far off. Still he
might drive through the town, making for Kendal or Lancaster, in which
case Foster would lose him. The car was not in the first garage, and
he hurried to the other, attached to his hotel. He found the car,
splashed with mud which the driver, whom he had seen at Hawick, was
washing off.

"I want some petrol, and you had better leave me a clear road to the
door," the man said to a garage hand. "I expect we'll be out first in
the morning, because we mean to start as soon as it's light."

Foster had heard enough, and quickly went away. Daly meant to stop the
night, and he must decide what to say to him. He was moreover curious
about his companions.

XXI

DALY TAKES ALARM

When he returned to the hotel Foster signed the visitors' book, which
he examined. Daly's name was not there, but the last entry recorded
the arrival of Mr. Forbes and two ladies from Edinburgh, and Foster did
not doubt that this was the party he had se