search of the mill premises might reveal.

Next morning Laroche vanished, saying he had friends in the town whom he
wished to look up, and it was close on dinner-time before he put in an
appearance.

"I have got some information that may help," he said, as Willis greeted
him. "Though I'm not connected with the official force, we are very good
friends and have worked into each other's hands. I happen to know one
of the officers of the local police, and he got me the information. It
seems that a M. Pierre Raymond is practically the owner of Raymond Fils,
the distillers you mentioned. He is a man of about thirty, and the son
of one of the original brothers. He was at one time comfortably off, and
lived in a pleasant villa in the suburbs. But latterly he has been going
the pace, and within the last two years he let his villa and bought a
tiny house next door to the distillery, where he is now living. It is
believed his money went at Monte Carlo, indeed it seems he is a wrong
'un all round. At all events he is known to be hard up now."

"And you think he moved in so that he could load up that brandy at
night?"

"That's what I think," Laroche admitted. "You see, there is the
motive for it as well. He wouldn't join the syndicate unless he was in
difficulties. I fancy M. Pierre Raymond will be an INTERESTING study."

Willis nodded. The SUGGESTION was worth investigation, and he
congratulated himself on getting hold of so excellent a colleague as
this Laroche seemed to be.

The Frenchman during the day had hired a motor bicycle and sidecar, and
as dusk began to fall the two men left their hotel and ran out along the
Bayonne road until they reached the Lesque. There they hid their vehicle
behind some shrubs, and reaching the end of the lane, turned down it.

It was pitch dark among the trees, and they had some difficulty in
keeping the track until they reached the clearing. There a quarter
moon rendered objects dimly visible, and Willis at once recognized his
surroundings from the description he had received from Hilliard and
Merriman.

"You see, somebody is in the manager's house," he whispered, pointing to
a light which gleamed in the window. "If Henri has taken over Coburn's
job he may go down to the mill as Coburn did. Hadn't we better wait and
see?"

The Frenchman agreeing, they moved round the fringe of trees at the edge
of the clearing, just as Merriman had done on a similar occasion some
seven weeks earlier, an