place. Well, the first thing I noticed was that Mike refused to come
with us, although both Ethne and I called him. As we passed through the
hall he slunk away into the library. I thought it a bit strange, as he's
usually so frantic to go out with me. Still, I didn't attach any
significance to the matter until later, when we visited the kennels. I
don't know why, but one takes it for granted that a man is keen on dogs
somehow and----"

"Isn't Sir Alister?"

"They are not keen on him, anyhow," I answered grimly. "They had heard
my voice as we approached and were all barking with delight, but
directly we entered the place there was a dead silence, save for a few
ominous growls from Argo. It was a most extraordinary sight. They all
bristled up, so to speak, sniffing the air though on the scent of
something. I let Bess and Fritz loose, but instead of jumping up, as
they usually do, they hung back and showed the whites of their eyes in a
way I've never seen before. I actually had to whistle to them sharply
several times before they came, and then it was in a slinking manner,
taking good care to put Ethne and me between themselves and Moeran, and
looking askance at him the whole while."

"H'm!" murmured the General with puckered brows. "That was certainly
odd, very odd!"

"It was," I agreed, warming to the subject, "but there's odder still to
come. I dare say you'll think it all my fancy, but the minute those
animals put their heads up and sniffed in that peculiar way, I
distinctly smelt the musky, savage odour of wild beasts. You know it
well, anyone who has been through a jungle does."

Uncle Bob nodded. "I know it, too; 'Musky' is the very word--the smell
of sun-warmed fur. Jove, how it carries me back! I remember once, years
ago, coming upon a litter of lion cubs, in a cave, when I was out in
Africa----"

"Yes! Yes!" I cried eagerly. "And that is what I smelt this morning.
Those dogs smelt it, too. They felt that there was something alien,
abnormal in their midst."

"That something being--Sir Alister Moeran?"

I felt myself flush up under his gaze. I got up and walked about the
room.

"I don't understand it," I said doggedly. "I tell you plainly, Uncle
Bob, I don't understand. My impression of the man last night was
'black,' but he's not black, I know that perfectly well, no more than
you or I are, and yet I can't get over the behaviour of those hounds.
It wasn't only one of 'em, it was the whole lot. They s