m Sage passed from one
to the other and looked out. He examined carefully each of the
window-ledges.

"Are these the clothes he wore when he got up?" he enquired,
indicating a sweater and a pair of flannel trousers that lay on a
chair.

Alf Pond nodded.

Swiftly Malcolm Sage felt in the pockets. There was nothing there. A
minute later he left the room, followed by the others. Descending
the stairs, he passed along the hall and out on to the short drive,
accompanied by Mr. Doulton and Alf Pond.

Half-way towards the gate Malcolm Sage stopped.

"You will hear from me some time to-day or to-morrow," he said. "Do
exactly as I have said and, if I don't telephone before to-morrow
evening, go to the Olympia as if Burns were to be there. You might
have sent out to my car a pair of drawers and boots in case I find
him."

"You're going to find him then?" Alf Pond suddenly gripped Malcolm
Sage's arm with what was almost ferocity.

Malcolm Sage shrugged his shoulders.

"If you do as I tell you, it will help. By the way," he added, "if
you have time, you might put twenty-five pounds on Burns for me. Mr.
Doulton will be responsible for the amount. Now I want to look about
me," and with that Malcolm Sage walked a few steps down the drive,
leaving two men staring after him as if he had either solved or
propounded the riddle of the universe.

For some minutes he stood in the centre of the drive, looking about
him. Stepping to the right, he glanced back at the house, and then
towards the road. Finally he made for a large clump of rhododendrons
that lay between the road and the house.

Motioning the others to remain where they were on the gravelled
drive, he walked to a clear space of short grass between the
rhododendrons and the hedge bordering the road.

Going down upon his knees, he proceeded to examine the ground with
great care and attention. For nearly half an hour he crawled from
place to place, absorbed in grass, shrub, and flower-bed. Finally he
penetrated half into the privet-hedge that bordered the road.

The sparring-partners had now joined the other two on the drive, and
the group stood watching the strange movements of the man who, in
their opinion, had already shown obvious symptoms of insanity.

Presently Malcolm Sage emerged from the hedge, in his hand a long
cigar, round the centre of which was a red-and-gold band. For fully
a minute he stood examining this with great care. Then, taking a
letter-case f