“Have you searched? I don’t suppose there’s any use of it, but we’ve got to search. Oh, why didn’t I guard him—why did I ever take such a criminal risk!”
None of us could forget his rugged, brown face in the wan electric light. Whether it was regret or fear that swept it we didn’t know. It was ashen, almost expressionless, and his eyes were lifeless under his heavy brows. His hands hung, fingers slightly apart, at his side.
“Wait just a minute before we begin an indiscriminate search,” Nopp said. “Slatterly, we’ve got to face facts. Do you think—there’s any place in these grounds that none of us ought to go?”
We knew what he meant. He wanted to guard against further loss of life.
“The thing seems to run according to rule,” the sheriff replied, rather grimly. “Just one gone—every night. But keep together when you’re down near the lagoon.”
There was not the least good in searching further through the house. Most of the household had gathered around us, by now, and no one had seen Major Dell. We walked the length of the corridor and down the stairs, and then we went out into the still darkness. The hour was evidently shortly after midnight—the tide was almost at its flood.
Just a moment more we stood just below the great veranda, and no man knew the other’s thoughts. The moon was rising—we could see its argent gleam through nebulous clouds to the East. Far away the gray shore stretched to the darkened sea, and the natural rock wall showed a faint, gray line. Then we headed out into the grounds.
But there was no answer to the calls we made, and only such little people as moles and gophers, burrowers in the ground, stirred in the thickets as we crushed through. We hunted aimlessly, more to satisfy our own sense of duty than through any expectation of finding the missing man. The moon came out more vividly, but its light did not bring success. At last we collected, a silent, rather breathless group, in front of the house.
“What now, Slatterly?” Nopp asked. “Is there anything more we can do?”
“Nothing more.” His old confidence was gone from his voice. “I wish I’d done something long ago, instead of being so sure. But this thing can’t happen to-morrow night.”