hes lent their rays to make the thing he gazed at more
distinguishable, while another mile away at least, the flames twinkled
dimly, and slowly went out one by one as though the finger of dawn had
snuffed them like candle-ends.

"What the devil is it?" demanded Tony West, getting to his knees and
peering at the spot with narrowed eyes.

"Charred grass. And the end of the footprints!" It was the doctor who
spoke--in a queer voice sharp with excitement. "There has been a fire
here or something. And--Wynne went no farther, apparently. The ground
about it is as marshy as ever, and my own footprint is perfectly
clear.... What the dickens do you make of it, eh?"

But there was no answer forthcoming. Every man stood still staring down
at this strange thing with wide eyes. For what the doctor said was
absolute truth. The footsteps certainly _did_ end here, and in a patch of
charred grass as big round as a small table. What did it mean? What could
it mean, but one thing? Somehow, somewhere, Wynne had vanished. It was
incredible, unbelievable, and yet--there was the evidence of their own
eyes. From that spot onward the ground was wholly free of the footprints
of any man, woman, or child. No mark disturbed the sodden mud of it. And
yet--right here, where the grasses seemed to grow tallest, this patch was
burnt off and withered as though with sudden heat.

Tony West straightened himself.

"If I didn't think the whole business was a pack of lies spun into a
bigger one by a lot of village gossips, I'd--I'd begin to imagine there
was something in the story after all!" he said, getting to his feet and
looking at the white faces about him. "It's--it's devilish uncanny,
Doctor!"

"It is that." The doctor drew a long breath and stroked his beard
agitatedly. "It's so devilish uncanny that one hardly knows what to
believe. If this thing had happened in the East one might have looked
at it with a more fatalistic eye. But _here_--in England, no man in his
senses could believe such a fool's tale as that which Nigel told us
to-night. And yet--Wynne has gone, vanished! Never a trace of him,
though we'll search still farther for a while, to make sure!"

They separated at once, radiating out from that sinister spot and
searched and searched and searched. Not a footprint was to be found
beyond the spot, not a trace of any living thing. There was nothing for
it but to go back to Merriton Towers and tell their tale to Nigel.

"Old Wynne has