Eric slipped on his coat, and we scrambled through the undergrowth by the way we had come, and then under the shadow of the wall, tore on as quickly as our legs would carry us. Just, however, as we got out of the turnip field, my companion turned to me, and gasped,-- "Look there--to the left! There's someone over in that clump of bushes there. By Heaven! old fellow, we've been seen!" "Are you sure?" I cried hoarsely, glancing at the same moment in the direction he had indicated. "Certain. I saw the figure draw back as we passed. My eyes don't deceive me in the dark--I'm used to it." "Then we're betrayed!" I said breathlessly. "Yes. That's quite certain," was his hard response. "We've been watched--just as I feared." CHAPTER FOUR. IS ASTOUNDING. To halt would be to reveal our visit to the wood to the village constable, therefore we sprang across a stile, skirted the grass land, keeping beneath the high hawthorn hedge, and emerging into the roadway just as the lights of the gig came around the bend. "Halloa! doctor!" I shouted, as he approached with the constable at his side, and the groom behind. "Who's that?" he inquired, peering into the darkness. "Hughes--Wilfrid Hughes," I answered, and a moment later he pulled up, and both Eric and I greeted him. "We can go across the fields from here," Booth remarked. Therefore they all three descended, and leaving the groom with the horse, we allowed ourselves to be guided by the constable to the spot where the body was lying. "I hope, gentlemen, you haven't been waitin' long," said Booth, addressing us, as he lit the hurricane lamp he had brought. "Not at all," declared Eric, quite unconcernedly, "but we're naturally very anxious to ascertain who the poor fellow is." "From what Booth says, it seems a clear case of murder," remarked Richards, the hard-working country practitioner. "A mystery, evidently," said Domville. "Has no weapon been found?" "We haven't searched yet, sir," the constable replied. "We'll have to wait till daylight." And so, our way lit by the officer's lantern, we went on past the dump of bushes where my friend declared that some person was in hiding. Both of us glanced across eagerly, but all was quiet--not a leaf stirred. Who was concealed there, I wondered? I knew Eric Domville too well to doubt that his practised eye had been deceived. I longed to go forward and search, but that was entirely out of the question. Some unknown person had witnessed our visit to the body. Our actions had been watched. Presently, when we reached the spot, and the light shone upon the prostrate man, I was enabled to obtain my first clear sight of him.