“Get down, Watson!” cried Holmes, with a heavy hand upon my shoulder.  We had hardly sunk from view when the man flew past us on the road.  Amid a rolling cloud of dust, I caught a glimpse of a pale, agitated face—­a face with horror in every lineament, the mouth open, the eyes staring wildly in front.  It was like some strange caricature of the dapper James Wilder whom we had seen the night before.

“The Duke’s secretary!” cried Holmes.  “Come, Watson, let us see what he does.”

We scrambled from rock to rock, until in a few moments we had made our way to a point from which we could see the front door of the inn.  Wilder’s bicycle was leaning against the wall beside it.  No one was moving about the house, nor could we catch a glimpse of any faces at the windows.  Slowly the twilight crept down as the sun sank behind the high towers of Holdernesse Hall.  Then, in the gloom, we saw the two side-lamps of a trap light up in the stable-yard of the inn, and shortly afterwards heard the rattle of hoofs, as it wheeled out into the road and tore off at a furious pace in the direction of Chesterfield.

“What do you make of that, Watson?” Holmes whispered.

“It looks like a flight.”

“A single man in a dog-cart, so far as I could see.  Well, it certainly was not Mr. James Wilder, for there he is at the door.”

A red square of light had sprung out of the darkness.  In the middle of it was the black figure of the secretary, his head advanced, peering out into the night.  It was evident that he was expecting someone.  Then at last there were steps in the road, a second figure was visible for an instant against the light, the door shut, and all was black once more.  Five minutes later a lamp was lit in a room upon the first floor.

“It seems to be a curious class of custom that is done by the Fighting Cock,” said Holmes.

“The bar is on the other side.”

“Quite so.  These are what one may call the private guests.  Now, what in the world is Mr. James Wilder doing in that den at this hour of night, and who is the companion who comes to meet him there?  Come, Watson, we must really take a risk and try to investigate this a little more closely.”

Together we stole down to the road and crept across to the door of the inn.  The bicycle still leaned against the wall.  Holmes struck a match and held it to the back wheel, and I heard him chuckle as the light fell upon a patched Dunlop tire.  Up above us was the lighted window.

“I must have a peep through that, Watson.  If you bend your back and support yourself upon the wall, I think that I can manage.”

An instant later, his feet were on my shoulders, but he was hardly up before he was down again.

“Come, my friend,” said he, “our day’s work has been quite long enough.  I think that we have gathered all that we can.  It’s a long walk to the school, and the sooner we get started the better.”