left England some
days ago."

"Are you sure?"

"Certain! We learned that before Earl made his attempt. Hassan
remains, for some reason; Hassan and one other--the one who drives
the car."

"But the slipper?"

"If Hassan remains, so does the slipper!" From the knapsack, which,
as you will have divined, did not contain a camera, she took out an
electric pocket lamp, and directed its beam upon the hedge above us.

"There is a gap somewhere here!" she said. "See if you can find it.
I dare not show the light too long."

Darkness followed. I clambered up the bank and sought for the
opening of which Carneta had spoken.

"The light here a moment," I whispered. "I think I have it!"

Out shone the white beam, and momentarily fell upon a black hole in
the thickset hedge. The light disappeared, and as I extended my
hand to Carneta she grasped it and climbed up beside me.

"Put on your rubber shoes," she directed. "Leave the others here."

There in the darkness I did as she directed, for I was provided with
a pair of tennis shoes. Carneta already was suitably shod.

"I will go first," I said. "What is the ground like beyond?"

"Just unkempt bushes and weeds."

Upon hands and knees I crawled through, saw dimly that there was a
short descent, corresponding with the ascent from the lane, and
turned, whispering to my fellow conspirator to follow.

The grounds proved even more extensive than I had anticipated. We
pressed on, dodging low-sweeping branches and keeping our arms up to
guard our faces from outshoots of thorn bushes. Our progress
necessarily was slow, but even so quite a long time seemed to have
elapsed ere we came in sight of the house.

This was my first expedition of the kind; and now that my goal was
actually in sight I became conscious of a sort of exultation hard
to describe. My companion, on the contrary, seemed to have become
icily cool. When next she spoke, her voice had a businesslike ring,
which revealed the fact that she was no amateur at this class of
work.

"Wait here," she directed. "I am going to pass all around the
house, and I will rejoin you."

I could see her but dimly, and she moved off as silent as an Indian
deer-stalker, leaving me alone there crouching at the extreme edge
of the thicket. I looked out over a small wilderness of unkempt
flower-beds; so much it was just possible to perceive. The plants
in many instances had spread on to the pathways and contested
su