Having reached the outskirts of the village, it continued its crouching course along the western side of the hedge flanking the roadside.
Malcolm Sage and Thompson followed under the shadow of a hedge running parallel.
For a mile the slow and laborious tracking continued. Suddenly Malcolm Sage stopped. In the field on their right two horses were grazing in the moonlight. It was the scene of the tragedy of the month previous!
For some minutes they waited expectantly. Suddenly Malcolm Sage gripped Thompson's arm and pointed. From under the hedge a dark patch was moving slowely towards the nearer of the two animals. It was apparently the form of a man, face downward, wriggling along inch by inch without bending a limb.
"Get across. Cut off his retreat," whispered Sage. "Look out for the knife."
Thompson nodded and slid away under cover of the hedge separating the field in which the horses were from that along which the watchers had just passed.
Slowly the form approached its quarry. Once the horse lifted its head as though scenting danger; but the figure was approaching upwind.
Suddenly it raised itself, appearing once more like a large dog. Then with a swift, panther-like movement it momentarily disappeared in the shadow cast by the horse.
There was a muffled scream and a gurgle, as the animal collapsed, then silence.
A minute later the form seemed to detach itself from the carcase and wriggled along towards the hedge, a dark patch upon the grass.