The Red Cloud chief., 1907-08-02

Une tOpmOSt StTaHU Vi wire. it hhu
Numbered into a bed of wallhowers.
which were all crushed and downtrod-
den. and snapped off a rose tree in the
middle. Below the window were dis
tlnct traces of footmarks. Lord Run.
ton, who held the torch, was becoming
excited.
"Duncombe." he said. "there is some
thing which | have not told YOU yet. |
have had numerous reports in about
the car and was able to trace 1t as far
as Lynn. but they all agreed in saying
that it contained only two pprsons-thc
driver and the man who called himself
Fielding. What became Of the girl?'
IL have no idea" Duncombe answer
ed steadily.
"Of course not" Lord Itunton n
tinued. "But don't you think It posi-
bic that without your knowledge. of
coursc--she may he hidden somewhere
about here? That cry was not like tina
cry of a housemaid. Let us have the
whole place searched"
Duncombe shrugged his shoulders.
"As you WILL" he answered. II am
certain. however, that it will he use
less. There is no place here where any
one could hide"
your servants may know some.
thsng." Runton suggested.
v have already questioned them"
Drncombe answered.
Come along, Mr.. Spencer" Lord
R'inton exclaimed. LET us searcl, the
grounds"
Spencer shook his heal.
"Waste Of time, Lord Runton." he
answered. "If you really want to dis
cover the whereabouts of this missing
young lady and she should by my
YES" Lord Runton answered, but
they were all in code. | happen to
know that, because the postmaster
brought the first II up himself and
explained that he was afraid that he
must ha re made some mistake, rs the
message was incomprehensible. Field
ing only laughed and gave the man a
sovereign. The message was abso-
lutely correct. he declared. He told
me afterward that whenever he was
specializing he always coded his mes
sages, and 1t seemed perfectly reason
able
Spencer nodded.
"Just So" he murmured.
"This morning." Lord Nunton con
tinued, "MIr. Fielding rather upset u
plans. We were all to have spent the
day at the dukes and dined there.
There was Il big shoot for the men, as
| you know. At breakfast time, however,
Mr.. Fielding announced that he had Il
man coming over with n motor car
from Norwich for them to try and beg
ged to be excused. So we had to go
without them.
DE Rothe was staying with me, as
you know, and just before we started
he had a telegram that a messenger
from the embassy was on his way
down. He hesitated for some time as
to whether he ought not to stay at
home so as to be here when he ar
rived, but we persuaded him to come
with us ana promised TO send him back
after luncheon. When we got to Ches-
tow, however, the wind had become a
gale, and it was impossible to shoot
d%ecently. De Rothe was a little I'M
easy all the time, l could see, 80 he
and and n few of the others returned
here, and the rest went up to Chestow.
Just as we arrived Fielding passed us
in a great motor ear, with his daughter
behind. When we got to the house DE
Rothe inquired for the messenger. He
was told that he was in Mr.. Fielding's
sitting room, but when we got there
we found the door locked, and through
the key hole we could heal n man
%groaning. We broke the door In ana
found De Rothe's messenger half I'M
conscious and Il rifed dispatch box
upon the floor. He has given us no
coherent account of what has happen
ed yet, but it is quite certain that he
was attacked and robbed by Mr.. Field
ing"