"Tell us, Ericson," said Bailie Duke, taking a pinch of snuff, and then bending forward with his elbows on the table, "tell us this: When you bravely, and at the risk of breaking your neck, climbed down the North Gaulton Cliff to render assistance, as you supposed, to Thora Kinlay, did you find anyone in the cave?" "Yes, Mr. Duke," I answered with directness, "I found Tom Kinlay. He was alone and asleep." "You descended the cliff without the aid of ropes, I believe?" "Yes, sir." "Do you know any other lad in Pomona who could have done such a thing? Kinlay, there, for instance?" "He might have done it, sir, but not in winter." "How, then, do you account for Kinlay getting into the cave?" "I suppose, sir, that he had my ropes;" and I pointed to the coil of rope on the table. "Now, further, do you recognize this gun?" "Yes; it is mine." "When did you last use it?" "Two days before I went away in the Falcon, more than two months since." There was a pause here and a passing of the snuffbox. Bailie Duke then turned to Kinlay, holding the viking's stone in his fingers. "Have you ever had this curious stone in your possession, Kinlay?" he asked. "Yes; I got it from my sister," replied Tom. "Ericson," asked Mr. Duke, "how came the stone in your possession on Saturday?" "Jessie and I found it at the head of the Cliff," I said. "It was that which made me believe that Thora was in the cave. She got the stone from me before I went away, and I thought she had maybe dropped it as she was getting over the cliff." "But what on earth could the lass want in the cave?" asked Mr. Thomson. "She was unhappy at home," I explained, "and had threatened to run away. I supposed she had taken refuge in the cave." "Kinlay," said Mr. Duke, touching the coil of rope, "did you at any time make use of these lines to climb down the Gaulton cliffs?" Tom was silent. "If you do not care to tell us that, then, perhaps, you will say if you happened to make use of this gun on the night on which Colin Lothian met his death?" Tom became perceptibly confused. "Mr. Duke," exclaimed Bailie Thomson, "what in the world are you driving at?" "I'm driving at the truth, Mr. Thomson," said Bailie Duke calmly, "and I think I see it. In the first place, you will observe, sir, that no motive whatever has been found which would induce Halcro Ericson to raise his hand against poor Colin Lothian. Now, on the contrary--and I can prove this by witnesses if you wish--it is certain that Kinlay had a quarrel with Lothian on the very day of the murder. Lieutenant Fox, who was witness of that quarrel, will be able to tell the reason of it. The reason was simply this--nothing else but this, Mr. Thomson--that it was Colin who let it out about the smuggling. It was what Lothian said in Oliver Gray's inn that morning which led the officer to believe that Carver Kinlay kept a store of illicit whisky in the Gaulton Cave. Is that so, Mr. Fox?" "It is quite true," said the officer.