MYSTERY
“The care with which the storyis written, the complicated plot andthe clash of the different practicesof man-hunters lift it out of thecommon run of mystery tales andmake it an absorbing book.”
LONDON: JOHN LANE, THE BODLEY HEAD
THE MYSTERY
OF THE DOWNS
AUTHORS OF “THE HAMPSTEAD MYSTERY,” ETC.
LONDON: JOHN LANE, The BODLEY HEAD
TORONTO: S.B. GUNDY
MCMXVIII
JOHN LANE COMPANY
Press of
J. J. Little & Ives Company
New York, U.S.A.
CHAPTER I
The storm had descended swiftly, sweeping in suddenlyfrom the sea, driving across the downs to thehills at high speed, blotting out the faint rays of acrescent moon and hiding the country-side beneath apall of blackness, which was forked at intervals byflashes of lightning.
The darkness was so impenetrable, and the fury ofthe storm so fierce, that Harry Marsland pulled hishat well over his eyes and bent over his horse’s neckto shield his face from the driving rain, trusting tothe animal’s sagacity and sure-footedness to take himsafely down the cliff road in the darkness, where a slipmight plunge them into the breakers which he couldhear roaring at the foot of the cliffs.
Hardly had Marsland done so when his horseswerved violently right across the road—fortunatelyto the side opposite the edge of the cliffs—slippedand almost fell, but recovered itself and then stoodstill, snorting and trembling with fear.
He patted and spoke to the horse, wondering whathad frightened it. He had seen or heard nothing, butthe darkness of the night and the roar of the galewould have prevented him, even if his face had notbeen almost buried in his horse’s neck. However, therain, beating with sharp persistence on his face andthrough his clothes, reminded him that he was somemiles from shelter on a lonely country road, withonly a vague idea of his whereabouts. So, witha few more soothing words, he urged his horse onwardagain. The animal responded willingly enough,but as soon as it moved Marsland discovered to hisdismay that it was lame in the off hind leg. Therider was quick to realize that it must have spraineditself in swerving.
He slipped out of his saddle and endeavoured tofeel the extent of the horse’s injury, but the animalhad not entirely recovered from its fright, and snortedas his master touched it. Marsland desisted, andgently pulled at the