When Farrow arrived at the head of his legion he was just in time to salute his Inspector, who had cycled from Easton after receiving the news left by the chauffeur at the police station. Farrow was bursting with impatience to reveal the discoveries he had made, though resolved to keep locked in his own breast the secret confided by Bates. He was thoroughly nonplussed, therefore, when Winter, after listening in silence to the account of the footprints and scratches on the moss-covered surface of the rock, turned to Hilton Fenley. "With reference to the rifle which has been mentioned--where is it kept?" he said. "In my brother's room. He bought it nearly a year ago, when he was planning an expedition to Somaliland." "May I see it?" Fenley signed to the butler, who was standing with the others at a little distance. "You know the .450 Express which is in the gun rack in Mr. Robert's den?" he said. "Bring it to the Superintendent." Tomlinson, shaken but dignified, and rather purple of face as the result of the tramp through the trees, went indoors. Soon he came back, and the rich tint had faded again from his complexion. "Sorry, sir," he said huskily, "but the rifle is not there." "Not there!" It was Sylvia Manning who spoke; the others received this sinister fact in silence. "No, miss." "Are you quite sure?" asked Fenley. "It is not in the gun rack, sir, nor in any of the corners." There was a pause. Fenley clearly forced the next words. "That's all right. Bates may have it in the gun room. We'll ask him. Or Mr. Robert may have taken it to the makers. I remember now he spoke of having the sight fitted with some new appliance." He called Bates. No, the missing rifle was not in the gun room. Somehow the notion was forming in certain minds that it could not be there. Indeed, the keeper's confusion was so marked that Furneaux's glance dwelt on him for a contemplative second. CHAPTER IV BREAKING COVER Winter drew the local Inspector aside. "This inquiry rests with you in the first instance," he said. "Mr. Furneaux and I are here only to assist. Mr. Fenley telephoned to the Commissioner, mainly because Scotland Yard was called in to investigate a bond robbery which took place in the Fenley Bank some two months ago. Probably you never heard of it. Will you kindly explain our position to your Chief Constable? Of course, we shall work with you and through you, but my colleague has reason to believe that the theft of the bonds may have some bearing on this murder, and, as the securities were disposed of in Paris, it is more than likely that the Yard may be helpful."