'I suppose you have been round all this place before, Miss Tricksy,' he said in a conversational tone.
Tricksy looked at him with mistrust.
'I believe you are great explorers and rock-climbers, you and your brothers, Miss Tricksy,' continued the officer, as though being carried down from a mast before a crowd of people were a matter of everyday occurrence; 'I envy you your opportunities——'
This sounded quite like the way the other officers had been talking to the grown-up ladies, and Tricksy found her stiffness begin to forsake her.
The most important point was to discover whether the Sheriff had seen what had occurred. If he had not been a witness, Tricksy felt that she might allow herself to get over it.
Her eyes sought her enemy, but that magistrate was, or affected to be, engrossed in trying to bring his telescope to bear upon the caves, and the episode had apparently escaped him.
'Talking of people hiding in the caves,' he said suddenly; 'Mrs. MacGregor, do you see the figure of a man at the mouth of the one which we are now opposite? From his attitude he might be a fugitive from justice or any other of these interesting desperadoes about whom we have been talking——'
Marjorie's face flushed, and she began to tremble from head to foot.
'Wait a minute, Mrs. MacGregor,' said the Sheriff, 'I will get my glasses adjusted. Curious; there is something in the man's appearance which seems familiar to me——'
He was about to take another look when the air was rent by the shrill whistle of a siren.