ain't somefin' worse.' 'What do'st a'
mean, bor?' says I. 'Well,' says Dick slowly like, 'it might be the
sperrit from th' pit, for 'twas in no mortal man to holler out like that
cry we just heered.' Wornt those yower words, bor?"

Mr. Duney, thus appealed to, nodded portentously, as though to indicate
that his words were well justified.

"Never mind the spirit from the pit," said Colwyn. "Go on with your
story."

"Well, ma'aster, just as we wor walkin' away from th' wood as fast as
ever we could, th' mune come out from behind th' shadder of a cloud, and
threw a light right ower th' wood. We just happened to give a glance
round ahind us at th' time, to see if we wor bein' follered, and, by its
light, we saw a man a creepin' back into th' wood."

"A man? Are you sure it was a man?"

"There's no manner o' doubt about that, ma'aster. We both saw it once,
and we didn't wait to look again. We run as hard as we could pelt to
Dick's cottage by the ma'shes, and got inside and stood listenin' to
heer if we were bein' follered. Dick says to me, says 'e, 'S'posen it
wor the chap who murdered owd Mr. Glenthorpe at the _Anchor_?' I thowt
as much meself, but a' tried to laugh it off, and says to Dick, 'What
for should it be him? He's far enough away by this time, for we s'arched
the place round fur miles, and we took in that theer wood where we just
see un.' 'We never s'arched th' wood,' says Dick, 'leastways, not
proper, an' it's a rare hidin' place for un.' 'So it be, to be sure,'
says I. 'If he sees that there light we'll be browt out from heer dead
men,' says Dick. 'So we will, for sartin,' says I. 'Let's put out th'
light, so th' bloody-minded murderer won't ha' narthin' to go by if he
ain't seen it yet.' So we put out th' light and stayed theer till th'
mornin', when we went out to work, and then when I seed Dick later we
thowt we'd come and tell you all about it, seein' as yower a gentleman,
and in consiquence a man of larnin', and might p'rhaps tell us what we'd
better do."

"You have certainly done the proper thing in disclosing what you have
seen," said the detective, after a thoughtful pause. "But why have you
come to me in the matter? It seems to me that the proper course to
pursue would be to lay your information before Constable Queensmead."

The two men exchanged a glance of conscious embarrassment. Then Mr.
Backlos, with the air of a man who had made up his mind to take the bull
by the horns, blurted out: