“Ah, most unfortunate!” he said.  “I hope they don’t escape us.  If they’re foreigners, they are not likely to get away.  But if they’re English or Scots, then I fear there’s but little chance of us coming up with them.  Yesterday at the inquest the identity of the murdered man was strictly preserved, and the inquiry was adjourned for a fortnight.”

“Of course my name was not mentioned?” I said.

“Of course not,” was the detective’s reply.  Then he asked:  “When do you expect to get a telegram from your friend, the Consul at Leghorn?  I am anxious for that, in order that we may commence inquiries in London.”

“The day after to-morrow, I hope.  He will certainly reply at once, providing the dead man’s father can still be found.”

And at that moment a tall, thin man, who proved to be Detective Campbell, entered, and five minutes later we were all three driving over the uneven cobbles of Dumfries and out in the darkness towards Rannoch.

It was cloudy and starless, with a chill mist hanging over the valley; but my uncle’s cob was a swift one, and we soon began to ascend the hill up past the castle, and then, turning to the left, drove along a steep, rough by-road which led to the south of the wood and out across the moor.  When we reached the latter we all descended, and I led the horse, for owing to the many treacherous bogs it was unsafe to drive further.  So, with Mackenzie and Campbell carrying lanterns, we walked on carefully, skirting the wood for nearly a mile until we came to the rough wall over which I had clambered with Muriel.

I recognized the spot, and having tied up the cob we all three plunged into the pitch-darkness of the wood, keeping straight on in the direction of the glen, and halting every now and then to listen for the rippling of the stream.

At last, after some difficulty, we discovered it, and searching along the bank with our three powerful lights, I presently detected the huge moss-grown boulder whereon I had stood when the pair of fugitives had disappeared.

“Look!” I cried.  “There’s the spot!” And quickly we clambered down the steep bank, lowering ourselves by the branches of the trees until we came to the water into which I waded, being followed closely by my two companions.

On gaining the opposite side I clambered up to the base of the boulder and lowered my lantern to reveal to them the gruesome evidence of the second crime, but the next instant I cried—­

“Why!  It’s gone!”

“Gone!” gasped the two men.

“Yes.  It was here.  Look! this is the hole where they buried it!  But they evidently returned, and finding it exhumed, they’ve retaken possession of it and carried it away!”

The two detectives gazed down to where I indicated, and then looked at each other without exchanging a word.

As we stood there dumbfounded at the disappearance of the body, the Highlander’s quick glance caught something, and stooping he picked it up and examined the little object by the aid of his lantern.