e.

It was obviously taking advantage of everything that tended to
conceal its movements.

Once it disappeared altogether, and for five minutes the two
trackers lay on their faces and waited.

"Making sure he's not being followed," whispered Thompson, and
Malcolm Sage nodded.

Presently the figure appeared once more and, as if reassured,
continued its slow and deliberate way.

Once a dog barked, a short, sharp bark of uncertainty. Again there
was no sign of the figure for some minutes. Then it moved out from
the surrounding shadows and continued its stealthy progress.

Having reached the outskirts of the village, it continued its
crouching course along the western side of the hedge flanking the
roadside.

Malcolm Sage and Thompson followed under the shadow of a hedge
running parallel.

For a mile the slow and laborious tracking continued. Suddenly
Malcolm Sage stopped. In the field on their right two horses were
grazing in the moonlight. It was the scene of the tragedy of the
month previous!

For some minutes they waited expectantly. Suddenly Malcolm Sage
gripped Thompson's arm and pointed. From under the hedge a dark
patch was moving slowely towards the nearer of the two animals. It
was apparently the form of a man, face downward, wriggling along
inch by inch without bending a limb.

"Get across. Cut off his retreat," whispered Sage. "Look out for the
knife."

Thompson nodded and slid away under cover of the hedge separating
the field in which the horses were from that along which the
watchers had just passed.

Slowly the form approached its quarry. Once the horse lifted its
head as though scenting danger; but the figure was approaching
upwind.

Suddenly it raised itself, appearing once more like a large dog.
Then with a swift, panther-like movement it momentarily disappeared
in the shadow cast by the horse.

There was a muffled scream and a gurgle, as the animal collapsed,
then silence.

A minute later the form seemed to detach itself from the carcase and
wriggled along towards the hedge, a dark patch upon the grass.

Malcolm Sage was already half-way through the second field, keeping
well under the shelter of the hedge. He reached a spot where the
intersecting hedge joined that running parallel with the highroad.
There was a hole sufficiently large for a man to crawl through from
one field to the other. By this Malcolm Sage waited, a life-preserver
in his hand.

At the sound of the snapping