“I have taken the liberty of learning the size and peculiarities of the footprints made by the various gentlemen holding forth there, and I find they correspond exactly with those of persons whose movements hereabouts show an intense interest in Schwartzberg.”
“Well,” said Bat, “I see there are various ways of coming at a fact. You began with a mental impression and ended with the impression of a foot; and I started with the expression of a lady’s face, and finished with an expression of amazement.”
“You’ve also been having some experiences then,” said Ashton-Kirk, interest in his voice. “I rather fancied you would. And as there will be no better time than the present, suppose you tell me just what they were.”
They seated themselves upon a flat rock out of eyeshot of Schwartzberg, and Bat began a report of his adventures. He told of his meeting with Miss Knowles on the road and her agitation at the thought of a fresh visit from the crime specialist; of the soft-looking man who stood in the lane writing in a leather-covered book; of Miss Knowles and her interest in the direction of the wind; of his seeing her at the window overlooking that point afterward; of the man in the chair and his strange actions; of the meeting with the man with the cough and the peppery little doctor; of the happening on the river bank; of his talk with Mrs. Kretz; of the laying low of the soft man; of the whispered conversation between the housebreaker and the woman in the darkened hall; of the escape of the latter; of the disappearance of Miss Knowles from the room, followed by the liberation of the prisoner.
When Bat had finished—and he did not slight a detail—his friend laughed softly.
“Experiences—yes,” said he. “And you have a most excellent memory. When you came to me the other day you complained of everything being elusive and difficult to make head or tail of. It would seem, from what you have told me now, that this had changed.”
“Altogether,” said Scanlon. “I don’t know a great deal more of the truth, but there’s no end to the happenings. As a matter of fact, I seem to be squaring up to something all the time.”
“And something of undoubted interest,” said Ashton-Kirk. He looked toward the river and added, “That, I suppose, is the place where you heard the man tumble into the water last night?”
“Yes,” replied Bat; “there where the bank is broken.”
“I’ll remember that,” said the other. “Indeed, it was in the hope of coming upon something of the sort that I came this way.”