swinging down the garden path, passing close to where Dunn lay
hidden, but without any suspicion of his presence, and out into the
high road.



CHAPTER II

THE FIGHT IN THE WOOD


From his hiding-place in the bushes Dunn slipped out, as the big
man vanished into the darkness down the road, and for the fraction
of a second he seemed to hesitate.

The lights in the house were coming and going after a fashion that
suggested that the inmates were preparing for bed, and almost at
once Dunn turned his back to the building and hurried very quickly
and softly down the road in the direction the big man had just
taken.

"After all," he thought, "the house can't run away, that will be
still there when I come back, and I ought to find out who this big
chap is and where he comes from."

In spite of the apparent clumsiness of his build and the ungainliness
of his movements it was extraordinary how swiftly and how quietly he
moved, a shadow could scarcely have made less sound than this man
did as he melted through the darkness and a swift runner would have
difficulty in keeping pace with him.