"I'm sorry, sir, but it's my duty to apprehend Lance Courthorne," he said.
"You have a warrant?" asked Barrington.
"Yes, sir," said the corporal.
There was intense silence for a moment. Then the Colonel's voice broke through it very quietly.
"He is not here," he said.
Payne made a little deprecatory gesture. "We know he came here. It is my duty to warn you that proceedings will be taken against any one concealing or harboring him."
Barrington rose up very stiffly, with a little gray tinge in his face, but words seemed to fail him, and Dane laid his hand on the corporal's shoulder.
"Then," he said grimly, "don't exceed it. If you believe he's here, we will give you every opportunity of finding him."
Payne called to a comrade outside, who was, as it happened, new to the force, and they spent at least ten minutes questioning the servants and going up and down the house. Then as they glanced into the general room again, the trooper looked deprecatingly at his officer.
"I fancied I heard somebody riding by the bluff just before we reached the house," he said.