"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.
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