son said. "Go with 'em, if you want, Mr. Blackburn."

And Bobby knew that he would go, not to help, but to be watched.

The others strayed toward the house. The three men faced the entrance of
the path alone.

"No more loud talk now," the detective warned. "If he went on tiptoe
so can we."

Even with this company Bobby shrank from the dark and restless forest.
With a smooth skill the detective followed the unfamiliar path. From time
to time he stooped close to the ground, shaded his lamp with his hand,
and pressed the control. Always the light verified the presence of
Paredes ahead of them. Bobby knew they were near the stagnant lake. The
underbrush was thicker. They went with more care to limit the sound of
their passage among the trees. And each moment the physical surroundings
of the pursuit increased Bobby's doubt of Paredes. No ordinary impulse
would bring a man to such a place in this black hour before the
dawn--particularly Paredes, who spoke constantly of his superstitious
nature, who advertised a thorough-paced fear of the Cedars. The
Panamanian's decision to remain, his lack of emotion before the tragic
succession of events at the house, his attempt to enter the corridor just
before Bobby had gone himself to the old room for the evidence, his
desire to direct suspicion against Katherine, finally this excursion in
response to the eerie crying, all suggested a definite, perhaps a
dangerous, purpose in the brain of the serene and inscrutable man.

They slipped to the open space about the lake. The moon barely
distinguished for them the flat, melancholy stretch of water. They
listened breathlessly. There was no sound beyond the normal stirrings of
the forest. Bobby had a feeling, similar to the afternoon's, that he was
watched. He tried unsuccessfully to penetrate the darkness across the
lake where he had fancied the woman skulking. The detective's keen senses
were satisfied.

"Dollars to doughnuts they're not here. They've probably gone on. I'll
have to take a chance and show the light again."

Fresh footprints were revealed in the narrow circle of illumination.
Testifying to Paredes's continued stealth, they made a straight line to
the water's edge. Rawlins exclaimed:

"He stepped into the lake. How deep is it?"

The black surface of the water seemed to Bobby like an opaque glass,
hiding sinister things. Suppose Paredes, instead of coming to a
rendezvous, had been led?

"It's deep enough in the centr