"All right--I'll put a man on to shadow him, from the time he leaves his lodgings until--until we want him," said the detective. "That is--if we do want him." "It will be one of the biggest surprises I ever had in my life if we don't!" asserted Byner. "I never felt more certain of anything than I do of finding Parrawhite's body in that pit!" It was this certainty which made Byner appear extraordinarily cool and collected, when next day, about noon, he walked into Eldrick's private room, where Collingwood was at that moment asking the solicitor what was being done. The certainty was now established, and it seemed to Byner that it would have been a queer thing if he had not always had it. He closed the door and gave the two men an informing glance. "Parrawhite's body has been found," he said quietly. Eldrick started in his chair, and Collingwood looked a sharp inquiry. "Little doubt about his having been murdered, just as I conjectured," continued Byner. "And his murderer had pretty cleverly weighted his body with scrap iron, before dropping it into a pit full of water, where it might have remained for a long time undiscovered. However--that's settled!" Eldrick got out the first question. "Pratt?" "Prydale's after him," answered Byner. "I expect we shall hear something in a few minutes--if he's in town. But I confess I'm a bit doubtful and anxious now, on that score. Because, when Prydale and I got down from Whitcliffe half an hour ago--where the body's now lying, at the _Green Man_, awaiting the inquest--we found Murgatroyd hanging about the police station. He'd come to make a clean breast of it--about Pratt. And it unfortunately turns out that Pratt saw Prydale and me go to Murgatroyd's shop last night, and afterwards went in there himself, and of course pumped Murgatroyd dry as to why we'd been." "Why unfortunately?" asked Collingwood. "Because that would warn Pratt that something was afoot," said Byner. "And--he may have disappeared during the night. He----" But just then Prydale came in, shaking his head. "I'm afraid he's off!" he announced. "I'd a man watching for him outside his lodgings from an early hour this morning, but he never came out, and finally my man made an excuse and asked for him there, and then he heard that he'd never been home last night. And his office is closed." "What steps are you taking?" asked Byner. "I've got men all over the place already," replied Prydale. "But--if he got off in the night, as I'm afraid he did, we shan't find him in Barford. It's a most unlucky thing that he saw us go to Murgatroyd's last evening! That, of course, would set him off: he'd know things were reaching a crisis." Eldrick and Collingwood had arranged to lunch together that day, and they presently went off, asking the detective to keep them informed of events. But up to half-past three o 'clock they heard no more--then, as they were returning along the street Byner came running up to them.