This being agreed upon, the conversation became more general, and in answer to questions we found that Oakes had not as yet formulated any solution to the mystery of the identity of the murderer. As he said, the affair of downstairs might be connected with the murder, indirectly or directly, but as yet we had not had sufficient opportunities for studying the surroundings of the house or the life of its attachés to venture an opinion. He laid particular stress upon the fact that opinions should never be formed on poor evidence, since a biased mind was incapable of appreciating new discoveries or new clues. To theorize too much was very easy, but sometimes fatal to detection of crime. He preferred to work along several lines of investigation before concentration on any one idea. "The affair of last night, in my estimation," said he, "is one of very grave import. Unquestionably, from what you saw, Stone, and from the evidence of us all, there were two men near the place you were going to pass. That the first one warned you and was, in a sense, a friend, is mysterious enough--it needs solution; but that the man who warned you should have run away and been pursued by the other is peculiar, to say the least. The signals of your companions were heard by the man at the bridge undoubtedly, and he ran to escape detection himself. The other--the one on this side, who was a probable assassin--would under ordinary circumstances have run away when he saw you were warned. He did run, but it was after the man who warned you." "To my mind, the explanation is this," continued the detective. "The man at the bridge is friendly, but cannot expose his identity or risk capture. The would-be assassin was convinced that the man who warned you knew of his purpose. He therefore pursued him--to finish him in self-protection." "I don't see why," said Moore; "he could have escaped instead." "Exactly," said Oakes. "He could have done so, but he did not wish it. He has not completed what he wants to do around here. He wished to come back, and to do so with safety he must rid himself of the one who knew of his doings." "Looks as though he was planning more trouble. He may have been the man of the robe, or the man with the arms," I ventured. "Or both," said Oakes. "At all events," said Hallen, "I wish that we could divert the minds of the people in town; the tension is great--too great for safety." "Perhaps, Chief," said Oakes, "that you and I can arrange a little matter that will distract their attention and which will tend to make them believe that progress is being made." He laughed as he spoke, and we knew that he was thinking over some little scheme to help Hallen back into popular favor. _CHAPTER XIV_ _Clues_ The carpenters and masons came and went in a very business-like way all that morning, while we were closeted upstairs with our companion and Chief Hallen.