The Birmingham age-herald., 1923-04-01

ing that the place was covered at high tide.
 Crewe had come from Staveley by boat instead of motoring across, his object be- ing to make complete investigation of Cliff Farm without attracting chance at tention or rural curiosity about his motor car, which was too big to go into the stables. He wanted to be undisturbed and uninterrupted in his investigation of the house. As he entered the boathouse he looked back to where he had left his boat, and saw that the landing place was high enough out of the water to prevent passers- by on the cliff road seeing the boat before high tide. By that time he hoped to have completed his investigation and be on his way back to Staveley.
 The boathouse was a small and rckety structure perched on a rough foundation of stones, which had been stacked to the same height as the landing place. The inside was dismal and damp, and the woodwork was decaying. Part of the roof had fallen in, and the action of wind and sea and storm had partly destroyed the board sides. Many of the boards had parted from the joists and hung loosely, or had fallen on the stones An old boat lay on the oozing stones, with it's name, Polly barely decipherable on the stern, and kedge anchor and rotting coil of rope inside it. Crewe had no doubt that 1t was the boat James Lumsden used to go fishing in many years ago.. A few de- cayed boards in front of the boathouse ind- cated the remains of wooden causeway for launching the boat In corner of the shed was a rusty iron windless, which sug- tol tha cxrv1o oh,, x-:. I man had been able to house his boat without assistance when he returned with his catch.
 Having finished his scrutiny of the boat shed and it's contents, Crewe made his way up the cliff path, and walked across the strip of downs to-the farm
 Cliff Farm looked the picture of desola- tlon and loneliness in the chill gray autumn afternoon. Its gaunt, closely shuttered ugliness confronted Crewe uncompromisng- ly, as though defying him to wrest from it the secret of the tragic death of it's owner. It already had the air of neglect and deser- tion which speedily overtakes the house which has lost its inhabitants There was no sign of any kind of life the meadows were empty of livestock. Somewhere in the outbuildings at the side of the house an unfastened door Tapped and banged drear. fly in the wind. Even the front door re- quired main strength to force it open after it had been unlocked, as though it shared with the remainder of the house the de- termination to keep the secret of the place, and resented intrusion. The interior of the house was dark, close and musty Trough the closed and shuttered windows not a ray of light or breath of air had been able to find an entrance
 Crewe's first act was to open the shut ters and the windows on the ground floor: his next to fling open the front and back doors, and the doors of the rooms He wanted all the light he could get for the task before him, and some fresh air to breathe. He soon- had both; wholesome, pure strong air from the downs, blowing in through doors and windows stirring up the accumulated dust on the floors, causing it to float and dance in the sunbeams that streamed in the front windows from the rays of an evening sun, which had succeeded in freeing himself in his last moments above the horizon from the mass of gray clouds that had made the day so chill and cheer less.
 Crewe commenced to examine each room and it's contents with the object of trying to discover something which would assist him in his investigation of the Cliff Farm murder. He worked carefully and minutely, but with the swiftness and method of practiced observer.
 The front room that he first entered de- tained him only few minutes. Originally for kbo eft