And then, just as he had glanced at his watch and found that it was close upon two o'clock, came the first real intimation that something was likely to happen.

Moving across the park towards him he heard the sound of a faint patter, curious and irregular in rhythm, which came from behind a range of low hillocks.

He raised himself on his hands and knees to watch.

His eyes were fastened upon a certain spot,--a stretch of the open park between himself and the hillocks.

The patter ceased and began again.