“There’s no danger of that. Both Skene and I know every inch of it. He cuts the hedges.”
This seemed to allay Howard’s doubts, and he led the way to the entrance. But here Stenness displaced him.
“I’ll take the lead, I think. I know the path. Besides, one never can tell. Somebody may be in there yet.”
He tapped his shot-gun in explanation of his full meaning, and Howard acquiesced.
“Right! In you go!”
They entered the labyrinth, Stenness in advance with his gun ready, Howard and the armed gardener bringing up the rear. For a minute or two they walked in silence along the intricate corridors, Stenness taking turning after turning without the slightest hesitation.
“I wish I had had the thing by heart as he seems to have,” Howard reflected, as he noted the easy way in which the secretary seemed to hold to his route. “It would have been a different business, then.”
All at once, Stenness halted abruptly and made a gesture of caution to his companions. His quick ears had caught something which they had missed.
“There’s somebody moving in the next corridor,” he whispered. “Wait here. I’ll fix him.”
With his gun ready he stepped suddenly round the corner of the alley and immediately they heard his curt command: