At that instant Garnesk stood still and sniffed the air. With a sudden jerk he wrenched the lantern from my hand and strode into the room. Sholto was gone. Only half his chain dangled from the hook, cut through the middle with a pair of strong wire-nippers. The oculist turned to us with an expression of acute interest. "Chloroform," he said quietly. CHAPTER VII. THE CHEMIST'S ROCK. By the time we gave up our hunt for Sholto that night and saw Hilderman into the _Baltimore II._ at the landing-stage, the harvest moon had splashed the mountain side with patches of silver in reckless profusion. But we were in no mood for aesthetics. We applied the moonlight to more practical purposes. "Show me the river, Mr. Ewart," said Garnesk, as we turned away from the shore. Accordingly I took him up stream till we came to Dead Man's Pool. "What do you make of things now?" I asked, as we walked along. "I can't make anything of the stealing of a dog except that someone coveted it and has now got it. Can you?" "No," I answered thoughtfully, "I can't. But it's an extraordinary coincidence, at the least; and who on earth could have stolen him? You see, no one round here would dream of taking anything that belonged to Miss McLeod. And, though Sholto is well enough bred, he's never been in a show, and has no reputation. I can't make it out." "I'm very sorry it happened just now," said the oculist. "I was in hopes that by experimenting on the animal I could cure the girl. But at any rate that is beyond grieving about now. Is this the place?" "Yes," I said, "this is Dead Man's Pool. That dim white shape there is the Chemist's Rock. It was there that Miss McLeod lost her sight, and here that the General had his extraordinary experience. It looks innocent and peaceful enough," I added, with a sigh. "The General was very lucky--very lucky indeed!" murmured my companion. "Why?" I asked. "He was down here looking at the rock, and he saw some sort of vision; Miss McLeod was up at the rock looking down at the pool, and she lost her sight. The General might have been looking this way instead of that, in which case we might have had another case on our hands." "Then you think the two adventures are different aspects of the same thing? If only we knew where Sholto was it might give us even more to go on." "Have you any tobacco?" he asked abruptly. "I've got a pipe, but I left my tobacco in my room." We were in evening dress, and my pouch and pipe were in the house; so I left him there while I ran in to fetch them. When I returned he was nowhere to be seen, and for a moment I half suspected some new tragedy; but as I looked round I caught the gleam of the moonlight on his shirt-front. I found him kneeling on the Chemist's Rock, looking out to sea.