"He calls himself 'Strange' down there." "Oh, does he? He knows what he is about, Sir Karl, rely upon it." "Who did send him down?" "Scotland Yard. It appears that Grimley, taking up the notion through you that he had found a clue to the retreat of Salter, went to Scotland Yard, announced that Salter was in hiding somewhere in the neighbourhood of Foxwood, and asked that a search should be set on foot for him." Karl sat thinking. If the man Tatton went down after Philip Salter, what brought him within the grounds of the Maze, watching the house at night? Whence also that endeavour to get in by day, and his questions to Ann Hopley? Was it Tatton who did this?--or were there two men, Strange and Tatton? "What sort of a man is Tatton?" he asked aloud. "Slight and fair?" "Slight and fair; about thirty years of age, Sir Karl. Curly hair." "They must be the same," mentally decided Karl. "I presume," he said, lifting his head, "that Tatton must have started on this expedition soon after I was here last?" "The following day, I think." "Then he has been at Foxwood over long. More than long enough to have found Salter if Salter's there, Mr. Burtenshaw." "That depends upon circumstances, Sir Karl," replied the detective, with a wary smile. "I could tell you of a case where an escaped man was being looked after for twelve months before he was unearthed--and he had been close at hand all the while. They have as many ruses as a fox, these fugitives." "Nevertheless, as Tatton has not yet found Salter, I should consider it a tolerably sure proof that Salter is not at Foxwood." Mr. Burtenshaw threw a penetrating gaze at his visitor. "Will you undertake to give me your word, Sir Karl, that you do not _know_ Philip Salter to be at Foxwood?" "On my word and honour I do not know him to be there," said Karl, decisively. "I should think he is not there." He spoke but in accordance with his opinion. The conviction had been gaining upon him the last few minutes that he must have been in error in suspecting Smith to be the man. How else was it, if he was the man, that Tatton had not found him? "Salter _is_ there," said the detective--and Karl pricked up his ears to hear the decisive assertion. "We have positive information from Tatton that he is on his trail:--I am not sure but he has seen him. For the first week or two of Tatton's sojourn there, he could discover no trace whatever of the man or his hiding-place; but accident gave him a clue, and he has found both: found his hiding-place and found him." "Then why does he not lay his hands upon him?" returned Karl, veering round again to the impression that it must be Smith. "It is only a question of time, Sir Karl. No doubt he has good reasons for his delay. To _know_ where a man is hiding may be one thing; to capture him quite another. Too much haste sometimes mars the game." "Tatton is going to remain at Foxwood, then?" "Until the capture is accomplished, certainly."