a cup of coffee and drank it while
he dressed. The engine of his car was cold, but his house was on a
hill and he was able to coast down to the Highway.

The road was level and straight, and after a few minutes driving a
little tableau came into sight--two cars, a group of uniforms.
Inspector Andrews, tall, thin, dyspeptic, greeted him with a limp
handshake. "Something funny about this," he said. "See what you
think."

Simon went down on one knee beside the body and began to undo the
clothing. After a time he looked up into the sky. "This is very
strange," he murmured.

"I know," grunted Andrews. "Can they take the body now?"

Simon stood up and nodded. He remained staring out across the marsh
until the body had been removed, and the ambulance a distant object.
Then he went and sat in his car. Andrews finished giving instructions
to his Sergeant, and joined him. "I'll let you give me breakfast," he
said.

"You're very kind," said Simon absently, and released the brake.

"Any use asking for the cause of death?" asked Andrews.

"Oh, the cause of death was crushing, but the cause of the cause of
death--" Simon shook his head. "There wasn't an unbroken bone in his
body. Could he have been dropped from an airplane?"

Andrews shook a ponderous head. "He was a bus driver on his way to
work without an enemy in the world. And I've a feeling his death is
going to keep me awake at nights. Anyway, Sergeant Bennet is going
over the area with a magnifying glass. We'll put up a pretty good
show. Can you suggest anything?"

"It wasn't a car," said Simon carefully. "The skin was unbroken,
except from the inside. I can only imagine something like a
rubber-covered steam-roller."

* * * * *

That night the Assassin killed two people.

When it grew dark it heaved itself up out of the slime. A long
business of bodily expansion and contraction. Two men were on the road
and heard the noise it made.

"Somethin' out there."

"Stray cow, maybe."

They stood and peered into the dark, trying to see a familiar shape.
The Assassin approached them, and was too big for them to see. They
stood in its path and looked for a familiar object in the blackness of
its body. So the instant of apprehension was small, the panic and
exertion soon over. Without pausing the Assassin moved over them and
continued on its way.

A little later Inspector Andrews found them. He was in a radio patrol
car, and he was mo