Ralph Rexworth stood in the old ruin, looking very perplexed. He could not find Mr. Charlton anywhere. He had whistled, and called, and searched, but not a trace of the hiding man could he discover. He felt anxious. What could it mean? Had the hiding-place been discovered, and his chum's unfortunate parent again been taken prisoner? Unless that was the case, he was at a loss to account for the man's absence. "It is no use waiting any longer," he mused, after he had searched the ruin through for the third time. "He has not hurt himself and fallen anywhere in here. He must have been alarmed, and have fled, unless he is taken. Poor old Fred will be horribly worried when I go back and tell him; but there is nothing else for me to do, and I shall be late back, as it is." He sighed. His friend's anxiety for his parent would be something like what he felt for his missing father. It made Ralph think of that again, and of the strange cry which he had heard in that place. He could not understand that. As he stood there he felt an uncontrollable impulse to penetrate to that lonely house again, to risk meeting the dogs, and to try the effects of his call once more. "I am bound to be late, anyhow," he muttered, "so here goes." And he set off. Perhaps he might meet Charlton's father in the wood. But--he stopped suddenly--what did this mean? There, on the soft ground, were those tracks once more! Lord Elgert's lame mare had been here! Did that mean that Lord Elgert himself had been; or had he lent his trap to the police again, and had they managed to run their victim down? The tracks did not touch the ruin; they began some way from it, and swept round the spinny towards that lonely house. For Ralph to follow them was but child's play. He had hardly to slacken his pace a bit, so plainly the marks were to be seen on the soft, little-trodden earth. They guided him to the spinny--to a little path cut through it, of which he had been ignorant before--right up to the house itself; and there, standing before the open door, was Lord Elgert's trap and the lame mare. It was not to the ruin, but to that mysterious house that the trap had been driven. But why? Ah, how Ralph asked himself that question, and how impossible it was to find an answer to it! Lord Elgert seemed to have hated his father. Lord Elgert was here, and he had heard his father's signal in this place. Ralph, crouching behind the trees, uttered his old call, and then listened with almost breathless attention. Yes. There--there, muffled but indistinct, the answer came! It came from the house. His father was there, and his father was in Lord Elgert's power! Ralph's first impulse was to dash forward; but he paused. He must be cautious here. He remained hiding, waiting to see if any one had noticed his call, and his prudence was rewarded by seeing Lord Elgert himself come to the door, accompanied by the brutal-looking man whom he had seen before, and glance anxiously round.