Later, with more facts in his possession, he could face the Lieutenant and compel his acknowledgment.

These considerations caused him to turn sharply and walk straight toward the ravine.

Yet his investigations there brought few results.

On the upper bank were the marks of a woman's shoe, a slender footprint clearly defined, but the lower portion of the ravine was rocky, and the trail soon lost.

He passed down beyond the stables, realizing how easily the fugitives, under cover of darkness, could have escaped.