“A search? In there?” he said. “What do you mean?”
Dick pointed amongst the trees, and Bryce saw the faint glimmer of a light.
“I was in there—just now,” said Dick. “And some men—three or four—came along. They're in there, close up by the nave, just where you found that chap Collishaw. They're—digging—or something of that sort!”
“Digging!” muttered Bryce. “Digging?”'
“Something like it, anyhow,” replied Dick. “Listen.”
Bryce heard the ring of metal on stone. And an unpleasant conviction stole over him that he was being forestalled, that somebody was beforehand with him, and he cursed himself for not having done the previous night what he had left undone till this night.
“Who are they?” he asked. “Did you see them—their faces?”
“Not their faces,” answered Dick. “Only their figures in the gloom. But I heard Mitchington's voice.”
“Police, then!” said Bryce. “What on earth are they after?”
“Look here!” whispered Dick, pulling at Bryce's arm again. “Come on! I know how to get in there without their seeing us. You follow me.”