Then, as he trudged along through the dark roads, his mind turned full on Dan. "He must die," he thought, with content and a secret satisfaction. "By Bishop's law or Deemster's he can not fail but be punished with death. And so this is the end! He was to have his foot on my neck some day. So much for the brave vaunt and prophecy. And when he is dead my fate is broken. Tut, who talks of fate in these days? Idle chatter and balderdash!" When the Deemster got to Ballamona he found the coroner, Quayle the Gyke, in the hall awaiting him. Jarvis Kerruish was on the settle pushing off his slush-covered boots with a bootjack. "Why, what? How's this?" said the Deemster. "They've escaped us so far," said the coroner, meekly. "Escaped you? What? In this little rat-hole of an island, and they've escaped you?" "We gave them chase for six miles, sir. They've taken the mountains for it. Up past the Sherragh Vane at Sulby, and under Snaefell and Beinn-y-Phott--that's their way, sir. And it was black dark up yonder, and we had to leave it till the morrow. We'll take them, sir, make yourself easy." "Had any one seen them? Is he with them?" "Old Moore, the miller at Sulby, saw them as they went by the mill running mortal hard. But he told us no, the captain wasn't among them." "What! then you've been wasting your wind over the fishermen while he has been clearing away?" Jarvis Kerruish raised his head from where he was pulling on his slippers. "Set your mind at rest, sir," he said, calmly. "We will find him, though he lies like a toad under a stone." "Mettle, mettle," the Deemster chuckled into his breast, and proceeded to throw off his cloak. Then he turned to the coroner again. "Have you summoned the jury of inquiry?" "I have, sir--six men of the parish--court-house at Ramsey--eight in the morning." "We must indict the whole six of them. You have their names? Jarvis will write them down for you. We can not have five of them giving evidence for the sixth." The Deemster left the hall with his quick and restless step, and turned into the dining-room, where Mona was helping to lay the supper. Her face was very pale, her eyes were red with long weeping, she moved to and fro with a slow step, and misery itself seemed to sit on her. But the Deemster saw nothing of this. "Mona," he said, "you must be stirring before daybreak to-morrow." She lifted her face with a look of inquiry. "We breakfast at half-past six, and leave in the coach at seven." With a puzzled expression she asked in a low tone where they were to go. "To Ramsey, for the court of inquiry," he answered with complacency. Mona's left hand went up to her breast, and her breath came quick. "But why am I to go?" she asked, timidly. "Because in cases of this kind, when the main evidence is circumstantial, it is necessary to prove a motive before it is possible to frame an indictment." "Well, father?" Mona's red eyes opened wide with a startled look, and their long lashes trembled.