I scanned the road so far as it was revealed by our lights, half expecting yet dreading to see his prostrate form. But there was nothing visible. Each taking a lamp from my car, the sergeant and I set out to search the hedges and ditches on each side of the road. We did so conscientiously for a hundred yards up and down the road, and on each side, but found nothing.
When we got back to the car, the sergeant said to me—
"Perhaps Mr. Forrest has found a clue, and thought he would waste no time in following it up."
The suggestion seemed feasible enough, but just at that moment my glance fell on something at my feet which put the idea to flight. Lying on the road was a large button. I picked it up. I saw at once that it had been torn violently away from the garment to which it had been attached, for a piece of the cloth had come away with it, I looked at it narrowly—the cloth was of the same material as the overcoat Forrest had been wearing.
The button had been almost under the wheels of my car, so I backed the Mercédès a few yards, and looked about for further traces. In the space thus laid bare there lay a lamp smashed to pieces. I picked up the frame, and saw that it was one of the lamps taken from the other motor. Further search only revealed another button similarly attached to a shred of cloth like the first one I had found. That was all.
The sergeant looked at me and I at him. One thought was in both our minds, and we gave utterance to it simultaneously.
"The Motor Pirate has been back again."
"You must have scared him away the first time, and on his return to complete the job he found the inspector here, and——"
The sergeant did not complete his sentence, but glanced apprehensively up and down the road.
"If he has returned, I don't see what he can have done with Forrest," I replied.