ake the trap round
behind the house instead of leaving it in the drive. The man may come
back this way, and if so, he might hear the horse stamp or make some
movement, and that would at once put him on his guard."

As the officers entered the inn Mark went into the yard and told the
ostler that he had met some friends, and should let his horse remain
there for the night.

"It is possible that they may drive me into the town in the morning," he
said; "and I shall very likely send a man down for the horse."

At a quarter to nine he went out again, and walked to the house he had
before visited; in ten minutes he heard the sound of wheels, threw open
the gate, and the men, jumping down, led the horse in.

"You may as well take him out of the trap," he said. "We cannot very
well get that round the house, but there is no difficulty about taking
the horse."

The officers had brought a halter and a nosebag full of corn. The horse
was fastened to a tree with soft ground round it, the nosebag put on,
and a horse cloth thrown over its back; then Mark and his two companions
went out into the lane, and in a couple of minutes entered the next
gate, treading lightly, and going round to the back of the house.

A light burned in the kitchen, and an old woman could be seen knitting.
They lifted the latch and walked in. Dropping her knitting, she rose
with an exclamation of terror.

Mark advanced alone.

"Do not be frightened," he said; "we are not going to do you any harm."
He took out his little ebony staff. "We are constables," he went on,
"and have orders to search this house. We must secure you, but you will
be released in the morning. Now, which is your room?"

In spite of Mark's assurance, the old woman was almost paralyzed with
terror. However, the two constables assisted her up to her room, and
there secured her with a rope, taking care that it was not so tightly
bound as to hurt her. Then they placed a gag in her mouth, and left her.

"Now let us search his room in the first place," Mark said, when they
came downstairs again. "I hardly expect we shall find anything. You may
be sure that he will have taken great pains to hide away any booty that
he may have here, and that it will need daylight and a closer search
than we can give the place now, before we find anything."

The search of the house was indeed fruitless. They cut open the bed,
prized up every loose board in the bedroom and the parlor, lifted the
hearth st