"No, I missed him by just about forty seconds, I should say. There's no moon and he'd be invisible as soon as he'd left the terrace. He must have leapt for it as soon as he'd fired the shot."
"H'm," said Sir Oswald. "I still think that a search should have been organized. Someone else should have been posted—"
"There are three of my men in the grounds," said the Superintendent quietly.
"Oh!" Sir Oswald seemed rather taken aback.
"They were to hold and detain any one attempting to leave the grounds."
"And yet—they haven't done so?"
"And yet they haven't done so," agreed Battle gravely.
Sir Oswald looked at him as though something in the words puzzled him. He said sharply:
"Are you telling me all that you know, Superintendent Battle?"
"All that I know—yes, Sir Oswald. What I think is a different matter. Maybe I think some rather curious things—but until thinking's got you somewhere it's no use talking about it."