The corner was empty.
"Where has he gone ?" said the Sergeant, peering through the crowd for a black-whiskered face.
The man was nowhere to be seen.

The Sergeant was puzzled and angered.

He lined the men up around the walls, but the man was not to be found.

As each man uttered his name, there were always some to recognize and to corroborate the information.

One man alone seemed a stranger to all in the company.