eman along the river-path.

He came, and the light of the moon shone on him between two trees, so that
I could mark who 'twas; and then I seed the man of all others in the world
I'd least have counted to see. For there, if you please, went young Mister
Cranston Champernowne, the nephew of the dead man, and thought to be heir
to Woodcotes! For Squire never married, but he had a good few nephews, and
two was his special favourites: this one and his brother, young Lawrence
Champernowne. They were the sons of General Sir Arthur Champernowne, a
famous fighter who'd got the Victoria Cross in India, and carried half the
alphabet after his name.

Well, there stood the young youth, and even in the owl-light I could see
he was a bit troubled of spirit. He looked about him, moved nervously, and
then fetched something out of his pocket. 'Twas black and shining, and I
felt pretty sure 'twas a bottle; but I only had time to catch one glimpse
of it, for he lifted his arm and flung it in the pool. It flashed and was
gone, and then, before the moony circles on the water had got to the bank,
the man was off. He walked crooked and shaky, and something told me as the
young fellow had done terrible wrong and felt it.

Whatever 'twas he'd hid, it lay now in the deepest part of the river, and
that, no doubt, he knew. But I knowed more. The bottom where his bottle
was lying happened to be fine sand with a clear lift to the little beach;
and so, given a proper tool, 'twas easy enough to rake over the river-bed
and fetch up anything of any size on that smooth surface.

Of course, my first thought was to fetch that bottle out of the water; but
then a cold shiver went through me, and I told myself to mind my own
business and leave Cranston Champernowne to mind his. Yet somehow I
couldn't do that. There was a sporting side to it, and a man like me
wasn't the sort to sit down tamely afore such a great adventure. So I said
to myself: "I'll have that bottle!"

My wits ran quick in them days, as was natural to a night-hawk, and I only
waited till the young chap was off through the woods, and then nipped back
into the grass field, fetched a haymaker's rake, made fast a brave stone
to 'un, got my night-lines up, and soon lowered down the rake over the
spot where the bottle went in. At the second drag I got him, and there,
sure enough, was the thing that Mister Champernowne had throwed in the
pool. But it weren't a bottle by no means. Instead, I found