"That's a queer thing, guv'nors!" he muttered. "Can't believe as how our Jim 'ud ever desert a post. He promised me faithfully as how he'd stick here like grim death until I came back. I hope he ain't had a fit, nor aught o' that sort--he ain't a strong chap at the best o' times, and--" "You'd better take a careful look round, Spurge," said Vickers. "Here--shall I come with you?" But Spurge waved a hand to them to stay where they were. He himself crept along the back of the hedge until he came to a point opposite the nearest angle of the tower. And suddenly he gave a great cry--human enough this time!--and the three young men rushing forward found him standing by the body of a roughly-clad man in whom Copplestone recognized the one-eyed odd-job man of the "Admiral's Arms." CHAPTER XXVIII THE FOOTPRINTS The man was lying face downwards in the grass and weeds which clustered thickly at the foot of the hedgerow, and on the line of rough, weatherbeaten neck which showed between his fur cap and his turned-up collar there was a patch of dried blood. Very still and apparently lifeless he looked, but Vickers suddenly bent down, laid strong hands on him and turned him over. "He's not dead!" he exclaimed. "Only unconscious from a crack on his skull. Gilling!--where's that brandy you brought?--hand me the flask." Zachary Spurge watched in silence as Vickers and Gilling busied themselves in reviving the stricken man. Then he quickly pulled Copplestone's sleeve and motioned him away from the group. "Guv'nor!" he muttered. "There's been foul play here--and all along of them nine boxes--that I'll warrant. Look you here, guv'nor--Jim's been dragged to where we found him--dragged through this here gap in the hedge and flung where he's lying. See--there's the plain marks, all through the grass and stuff. Come on, guv'nor--let's see where they lead." The marks of a heavy, inanimate body having been dragged through the wet grass were evidence enough, and Copplestone and Spurge followed them to a corner of the old tower where they ceased. Spurge glanced round that corner and uttered a sharp exclamation. "Just what I expected!" he said. "Leastways, what I expected as soon as I see Jim a-lying there. Guv'nor, the stuff's gone!" He drew Copplestone after him and pointed to a corner of the weed-grown courtyard where a cavity had been made in the mass of fallen masonry and the stones taken from it lay about just as they had been displaced and thrown aside. "That's where the nine boxes were," he continued. "Well, there ain't one of 'em there now! Naught but the hole where they was! Well--this must ha' been during the early morning--after I left Jim to go into Norcaster. And of course him as put the stuff there must be him as fetched it away--Chatfield. Let's see if there's footmarks about, guv'nor."