Part 16 (2/2)

Foster glanced at hirown less cordial, but he ad subjected to so to find the police inquiring about him Lawrence had not written, and Foster saw that there was much in his statements that sounded rather laht be better if I left quietly in the ain, heup ”But what did you do with Lawrence's bag?”

”I left it at a Peebles hotel I thought if Daly found it was there, it would give hin of agree anxious about him and a letter would put our minds at rest”

XIV

FOSTER SEES A LIGHT

After leaving the Garth, Foster went to Carlisle, where he bought small articles at different shops and had them sent to his hotel, addressed to Featherstone He also asked if any letters for his partner had coive his pursuers a hint, waited to see ould happen He iined that since Daly seemed to be well provided with money he would not undertake the search alone, and there were private inquiry agents ould help hientlemen would not be cheap, and Foster wondered if the fello that there was not very much to be extorted fro no result from his experiment, he resolved to leave Carlisle

He reached the station undecided where to go A Midland express would shortly start for the south, but it would be difficult to leave a clew in the bigtrain soon after the other on the North British line, which traverses the Border hills Foster preferred this neighborhood, because he was beginning to know it and it was not far from the Garth, but after a few moments'

consideration went to the Midland ticket

A row of passengers aiting their turn, and as he took his place in the line asuspicious in this, but the fellow had not come in by the entrance hall, and if he had been in the station, it was strange he had not got his ticket earlier When his turn came, Foster asked for a ticket to Appleby in a husky voice, and when the booking clerk demanded, ”Where?” looked over his shoulder Theforward, as if to catch his reply

”Appleby,” said Foster, who had seen by a railwayhis ticket, joined the passengers on the platfor that it would be a ed he walked up the platfores There was so out and in, and he kept out of sight a Then he stepped behind a truck loaded with milk-cans as the train rolled away

If the ht he had put him off the track, but he had no tiot in as it started, choosing an old carriage without a corridor, so that nobody could spy on his, the old red wall of the city rolled by and dropped behind, and as they ran out towards the open country across the Eden, Foster thoughtfully lighted a cigarette He had tried to put his pursuers on his partner's supposititious trail, but it began to look as if they were not following Lawrence but him His injured hand could hardly have escaped notice, and he was not really like Lawrence, of whoood description

He wondered as on his track, and hat object Daly would gain nothing byhim, and he could not see why the police should take an interest in hiswatched, and felt uneasy He was not sure that he had sent the last h he hoped he had

The train, which stopped now and then, ran across flat fields until it entered the valley of the Esk The valley narrowed as they sped through the woods beside the stream, and when the line turned up the water of Liddel bleak hills began to rise ahead The trees and rich cultivation were gradually left behind, the air got keener, and lonely ot dark as they followed the river, and soon afterwards Foster alighted at a small station

nobody else left the train except two or three country people, and he went to an inn in the straggling little town

Nextnortheast into the hills He walked leisurely, because he was going to Jedburgh, but had not ht, since Pete had told him of a farm where he could stop

About four o'clock in the afternoon he stopped near the middle of a barrenyello of the sunset, but it crossed a ridge about a h in places, but he thought a skillful driver could take a car over it To the east, where the horizon was hazy, the high ground fell away, and he thought he could strike another road to Jedburgh in three or four miles if he crossed the heath There seemed to be no reason why he should do so, but he left the road and some time later cah track began in a ot se of tall thorns, ool-fringed gaps between their steh, ran down the waterside, and Foster sat down on a stone and studied his ht it would take hih, but the small farm Pete had spoken of was not far off The track he was on see in the hollow, but when he looked back the sky was bright and the yello rested on the hill The evening was very cal far off across thesound There was a wire fence up the hill, which he had got over because the rotten gate stuck fast So it and his foot had struck the wire

Foster's eyes narrowed as he gazed up the track and sao figures come round a corner They were too far off to be distinct, but alking fast If he sat still, he would be invisible for two or three s There were large boulders and brae offered a hiding place on the other side It ht, but he would make an experiment, and dropped a feax ht in Carlisle The country people did not use waxthe Border e There were only a few bushes between hiround, into which his figure would melt, and was ready to lie down if needful He paused for a e of the burn, which spread out in a shallow that reflected the fading light Hefor hi into the strea as little splash as possible, and found a hole in the hedge, through which he crawled He was now in the shadow and it would be difficult to distinguish hi the thick stems

The men were plainly visible and did not look like country people, for the hill farait Foster crouched down and waited, knowing he would get a useful hint when they reached the spot he had left They stopped and one picked up the newspaper, while his co in his hand Foster, seeing that the fellow had found the matches, wondered whether he had made the trail too plain If they suspected the trick, they would knoas not far off and search for hiretted this, because it would have been useful to know the an to talk their voices were too low for him to hear what they said

Presently one left the road on the opposite side to the stream and climbed the bank, on which he stood as if he wished to look across the rass with his head bent, but Foster thought it was too dark to see any footprints he ht have left The fellow came on a few yards towards the stream, and then stood still while Foster tried to study hiuish his face as a white oval in the gathering dark