ely as if the pig were a human being."

"The pig--he whimsically called the pig Corinna, sir, in honor of that
imaginary mistress to whom he addressed so many verses--why, the pig
also has disappeared. Oh, but of course that at least is simply a
coincidence. . . . I grant you it was an uncanny beast. And I grant
you that Dr. Herrick was a dubious ornament to his calling. Of that I
am doubly certain to-day," said Borsdale, and he waved his hand
comprehensively, "in view of the state in which--you see--he left this
room. Yes, he was quietly writing here at eleven o'clock last night
when old Prudence Baldwin, his housekeeper, last saw him. Afterward
Dr. Herrick appears to have diverted himself by taking away the mats
and chalking geometrical designs upon the floor, as well as by burning
some sort of incense in this brasier."

"But such avocations, Philip, are not necessarily indicative of sanity.
No, it is not, upon the whole, an inevitable manner for an elderly
parson to while away an evening."

"Oh, but that was only a part, sir. He also left the clothes he was
wearing--in a rather peculiarly constructed heap, as you can see.
Among them, by the way, I found this flattened and corroded bullet.
That puzzled me. I think I understand it now." Thus Borsdale, as he
composedly smoked his churchwarden. "In short, the whole affair is as
mysterious----"

Here Sir Thomas raised his hand. "Spare me the simile. I detect a
vista of curious perils such as infinitely outshines verbal brilliancy.
You need my aid in some insane attempt." He considered. He said: "So!
you have been retained?"

"I have been asked to help him. Of course I did not know of what he
meant to try. In short, Dr. Herrick left this manuscript, as well as
certain instructions for me. The last are--well! unusual."

"Ah, yes! You hearten me. I have long had my suspicions as to this
Herrick, though. . . . And what are we to do?"

"I really cannot inform you, sir. I doubt if I could explain in any
workaday English even what we will attempt to do," said Philip
Borsdale. "I do say this: You believe the business which we have
settled, involving as it does the lives of thousands of men and women,
to be of importance. I swear to you that, as set against what we will
essay, all we have done is trivial. As pitted against the business we
will attempt to-night, our previous achievements are suggestive of the
evolutions of two sand-fleas beside the o