“I do not think it would be wise. As the case now stands it will be better for me to keep my own counsel, for you might say something that would tend to divert my mind from the plan already forming in it, which is something I never like to have done.” “You believe in first impressions?” “Largely so, for I have very often found them right ones.” At the fence where the body had been taken out of the barrow the detective and Barnes parted. The latter returned to the house, while the former remained beside the fence. One thing that he had noticed here that Barnes had not was that there was a wheel track showing that a wagon had not so very long ago been driven close up alongside of the fence. After examining this wheel track closely he muttered to himself: “Here are the tracks made by the wagon in driving up. They show that the wagon contained less weight than when it drove away, for the wheels have not cut as deeply as in departing. This means that Mr. Field’s body, living or dead as the case may be, was transferred to the wagon. Now then, how was this done? Why was it considered necessary to take his body away?” And he continued: “As yet that is a mystery. But it can and must be solved. The first thing to do is to find a motive for the assault on Mr. Field. That robbery was not the reason is shown by the fact that nothing was taken. Yet, on the contrary, it would appear that his life was not sought, for if it had been the murderers would merely have made sure of that and left. The taking of his body gives to the case a deeper meaning. He was not killed, is the only conclusion that I can reach under the circumstances, and yet----” Nick Carter paused. Never in all his career as a detective had he met with a case in which he had so little foundation on which to base a possible reason for the crime. Suddenly he uttered a low exclamation. A new idea had come to him. It would solve some of the seeming mysteries of the case. Argumentatively he said to himself: “Now, then, somebody, for some reason as yet unknown, desires the death of Mr. Field. He or they came here for the purpose of ending his existence. He or they believe it has been accomplished and go away. He or they may have been in league with this Joe Timon--as to which more anon. Contrary: Somebody else turns up and discovers the body of Mr. Field, who may be alive or dead. This second he or they have reason to wish the existence of Mr. Field, to insure which or make his death an uncertainty, he or they carry away his body. Two parties of rascals, with different aims, are concerned in producing this apparently inexplicable state of affairs. I must now see those who are acquainted with the private life of Mr. Field during these last ten years, and ferret out such truths as may tend to prove or disprove this idea.” Good or bad, right or wrong, he had at last got hold of an idea on which to work, had formed a theory to prove or discover to be worthless.