This, then, is the stage upon which tragedy has been played, and upon which we may help to play it again." "It must be a wild place." "Yes, the setting is a worthy one.

If the devil did desire to have a hand in the affairs of men -- --" "Then you are yourself inclining to the supernatural explanation." "The devil's agents may be of flesh and blood, may they not?
There are two questions waiting for us at the outset.

The one is whether any crime has been committed at all; the second is, what is the crime and how was it committed?
Of course, if Dr.
Mortimer's surmise should be correct, and we are dealing with forces outside the ordinary laws of Nature, there is an end of our investigation.

But we are bound to exhaust all other hypotheses before falling back upon this one.

I think we'll shut that window again, if you don't mind.