“The two young gentlemen are going to help,” volunteered a woman in the crowd.
“We do’ant want no help,” cried a man baring his brawny arm. “We’ll find the chillun ourselves.” But the search proved futile, as they almost expected, for as Murlock’s boy had vanished completely, so had these other five children. But still stranger things were happening!
Mrs. Skeet possessed a dun cow of which she was very proud. Two days after the disappearance of the children, she tied it up in its stall in the byre, as it was suffering from an inflamed heel. Next morning when she entered the byre the cow had gone, and the whole of the thatched roof had been burnt away. Rushing into the cottage she called Mr. Winthrop, but there was no reply. She knocked at his bedroom door. The room sounded empty. Again she knocked, and fear made her open it. In a second she was out, and shrieking in her terror, for the window was open wide, and the vicar too had disappeared.
CHAPTER III
THE LIGHT
The London papers were burning with excitement. Marshfielden had at last become known to the vast, outside world, for the disappearance of so many of its inhabitants could no longer be hidden under a veil. After the vicar was found to be missing, Mr. Dickson at the mine made Slater promise to report the matter to the Kiltown police—the nearest constabulary to Marshfielden.
The detective officer and his men came over and pompously took notes and asked voluminous questions, but after a fortnight’s search came no nearer solving the mystery. Then one of the constables disappeared too, and Sergeant Alken thought it was high time to report the matter to Scotland Yard.
Detective Inspector Vardon, the shrewdest, cleverest man at the Yard, came down immediately, and at once sent for Alan and Desmond Forsyth. He had been working out a theory coming down in the train and these two young men were very closely connected with it.
But after his first interview with them, he realized that his suspicions were entirely wrong, and knew he must look elsewhere for a clue. Alan told the full story without any hesitation whatsoever and explained how they themselves had suffered over the “Curse.”
“Pooh Pooh!” laughed Vardon “We will leave the ‘Curse’ out of the question. These mysteries are caused by no witchcraft, but by a clever, cunning brain.”
“Do you really think so?” asked Desmond.