The Czar's Spy: The Mystery of a Silent Love

evening was now creeping on. From time to time we halted and listened. But there was a dead silence, broken only by the shrill cry of a night bird and the low rustling of the leaves in the autumn wind. The men knew their way, it seemed, even though the wood was trackless. Yet they had nearly twenty minutes start of us, and in that time they might be already out in the open country. Would they succeed in evading us? Yet even if they did, I could describe the dress of one of them, while that of his companion was, as far as I made out, dark blue, of a somewhat nautical cut. He wore also a flat cap, with a peak. We went on, striking straight for the open moorland which we knew bounded the woods in that direction, and before the light had entirely faded we found ourselves out amongst the heather with the distant hills looming dark against the horizon. But we saw no sign of the men who had so secretly concealed the body of their victim. "I will take you back to the castle, Miss Leithcourt," I said. "And then I'll drive on into Dumfries and see the police. These men must be arrested." "Yes, do," she urged. "I will get into the house by the stable-yard, for they must not see me in this terrible plight." It was rough walking, therefore at my invitation she took my arm, and as she did so I felt that she was shivering. "You are very wet," I remarked. "I hope you won't take cold." "Oh! I'm used to getting wet. I drive and cycle a lot, you know, and very often get drenched," was her reply. Then after a pause she said: "We must discover who that woman was. She seems, from her complexion and her hair, to be a foreigner, like the man." "Yes, I think so," was my reply. "I will tell the police all that we have found out, and they will go there presently and recover the body." "If they can only find those two men, then we should know the truth," she declared. "One of them--the one in brown--was unusually broad-shouldered, and seemed to walk with a slight stoop." "You expected to discover another woman, did you not, Miss Leithcourt?" I asked presently, as we walked across the moor. "Yes," she answered. "I expected to find an entirely different person." "And if you had found her it would have proved the guilt of someone with whom you are acquainted?" She nodded in the affirmative. "Then what we have found this evening does not convey to you the identity of the assassins?" "No, unfortunately it does not. We must for the present leave the matter in the hands of the police." "But if the identity of the dead woman is established?" I asked. "It might furnish me with a clue," she exclaimed quickly. "Yes, try and discover who she is." "Who was the woman you expected to find?" "A friend--a very dear friend." "Will you not tell me her name?" I inquired. "No, it would be unfair to her," she responded decisively, an answer which to me was particularly tantalizing. On we plodded in silence, our thoughts too full for words. Was it not strange that the mysterious yachtsman should be her lover, and stranger still that on recognizing me he should have escaped, not only from Scotland, but away to the Continent? Was not that, in itself, evidence of guilt and fear? It was quite dark when I took leave of my bright little companion, who, tired out and yet uncomplaining, pressed my hand and wished me good fortune in my investigations. "I shall await you to-morrow afternoon. Call and tell me everything, won't you?" I promised, and then she disappeared into the great stable-yard behind the castle, while I went on down the dark road and then struck across the open fields to my uncle's house. At half-past nine that night I pulled up the dog-cart before the chief police-station in Dumfries, and alighting at once sought the big fair Highlander, Mackenzie, with whom I had had the consultation on the previous day. When we were seated in his room beneath the hissing gas-jet, I related my adventure and the result of my investigation. "What?" he cried, jumping up. "You've unearthed another body--a woman's?" "I have. And what is more, I can identify her," I replied. "Her name is Armida, and she was wife of the murdered man Olinto Santini." "Then both husband and wife were killed?" "Without a doubt--a double tragedy." "But the two men who concealed the body! Will you describe them?" I did so, and he wrote at my dictation, afterwards remarking-- "We must find them." And calling in one of his sub-inspectors, he gave him instructions for the immediate circulation of the description to all the police-stations in the county, saying the two men were wanted on a charge of willful murder. When the official had gone out again and we were alone, Mackenzie turned to me and asked-- "What induced you to search the wood? Why did you suspect a second crime?" His question nonplused me for the moment. "Well, you see, I had identified the young man Olinto, and knowing him to be married and devoted to his wife, I suspected that she had accompanied him here. It was entirely a vague surmise. I wondered whether, if the poor fellow had fallen a victim to his enemies, she had not also been struck down." His lips were pressed together in distinct dissatisfaction. I knew my explanation to be a very lame one, but at all hazards I could not import Muriel's name into the affair. I had given her my promise, and I intended to keep it. "Then the body is still in the glen, where you left it?" "Yes. If you wish, I will take you to the spot. I can drive you and your assistant up there." "Certainly. Let us go," he exclaimed, rising at once and ringing his bell. "Get three good lanterns and some matches, and put them in this gentleman's trap outside," he said to the constable who answered his summons. "And tell Gilbert Campbell that I want him to go with me up to Rannoch Wood." "Yes, sir," answered the man; and the door again closed. "It's a pity--a thousand pities, Mr. Gregg, that you didn't stop those two men who buried the body." "They were already across the stream, and disappearing into the thicket before I mounted the rock," I explained. "Besides, at the moment I had no suspicion of what they'd been doing. I believed them to be stragglers from a neighboring shooting-party who had lost their way." "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. Within his palm I saw lying a tiny little gold cross, about an inch long, enameled in red, while in the center was a circular miniature of a kneeling saint, an elegant and beautifully executed little trinket which might have adorned a lady's bracelet. "This is a pretty little thing!" remarked the detective. "It may possibly lead us to something. But, Mr. Gregg," he added, turning to me, "are you quite certain you left the body here?" "Certain?" I echoed. "Why, look at the hole I made. You don't think I have any interest in leading you here on a fool's errand, do you?" "Not at all," he said apologetically. "Only the whole affair seems so very inconceivable--I mean that the men, having once got rid of the evidence of their crime, would hardly return to the spot and re-obtain possession of it." "Unless they watched me exhume it, and feared the consequences if it fell into your hands," I suggested. "Of course they might have watched you from behind the trees, and when you had gone they came and carried it away somewhere else," he remarked dubiously; "but even if they did, it must be in this wood. They would never risk carrying a body very far, and here is surely the best place of concealment in the whole country." "The only thing remaining is to search the wood at daylight," I suggested. "If the two men came back here during my absence they may still be on the watch in the vicinity." "Most probably they are. We must take every precaution," he said decisively. And then, with our lanterns lowered, we made an examination of the vicinity, without, however, discovering anything else to furnish us with a clew. While I had been absent the body of the unfortunate Armida had disappeared--a fact which, knowing all that I did, was doubly mysterious. The pair had, without doubt, watched Muriel and myself, and as soon as we had gone they had returned and carried off the ghastly remains of the poor woman who had been so foully done to death. But who were the men--the fellow with the broad shoulders whom Muriel recognized, and the slim seafarer in his pilot-coat and peaked cap? The enigma each hour became more and more inscrutable. At dawn Mackenzie, with four of his men, made a thorough examination of the wood, but although they continued until dusk they discovered nothing, neither was anything heard of the mysterious seafarer and his companion in brown tweeds. I called on Muriel as arranged, and explained how the body had so