"You have exceptional abilities, Pons," I murmured. "I would not care to be in this alone."
"Anyway, here we are at the abbey," said Pons. "We have only one other objective this morning and you will no doubt be pleased to learn that we are walking in a giant circle which should eventually bring us back somewhere within hailing distance of Grimstone Manor."
"I am glad to hear it, Pons," said I, setting foot on a solid earth path that led up toward the abbey ruins. "I am becoming a little tired of marshland, birds and sheep."
Solar Pons smiled grimily, looking sharply about him. He uttered a low cry of annoyance as we came up closer to the ruins. There were people there; many people, dressed in thick clothes and with rucksacks.
"Good heavens, Pons!" I exclaimed. 'These are the walkers; the people from the inn."
"Are they not, Parker," said Pons ruefully. "Any evidence our phantom has left here will certainly be obliterated by now."
But whatever disappointment he felt he managed to conceal with his usual adroit manner. He lounged up the path as though he had not a care in the world, exchanging friendly nods at the polite greetings of the people.
"The Cistercians were remarkable builders, Parker, were they not," he declared looking at the detail of a crumbling archway before us.
"Certainly, Pons. The order still flourishes, I believe?" "Most definitely."
Though Pons could not use his powerful magnifying lens, he certainly went over the ground in great detail, though the sightseers at this ancient monument would not have gathered it from his casual manner.
I sat down on a large flat stone and smoked for a while, content to let my companion wander; the sun was a little warmer in this enclosed space, though it was still bitterly cold and I did not linger long in that position. When Pons rejoined me his face had cleared.
"This is not the place, Parker. That seems self-evident." "You have found something, Pons?"
He shook his head as we hurried down the far side of the knoll and back into the marshy ground.
"These walkers have saved us time, Parker. The old ruins are too public. They came by the main road. There is a new, paved path not marked on my map, which leads direct to the ruins, which are listed as an ancient monument."
He smoked on in silence for a moment or two, his face looking worried.
"Our final destination this morning must bear out my theory or I shall have to rethink our tactics."
He said nothing further. We went on and on into the bleak wilderness, the cold forgotten in the exercise I found in treading in exactly the same places as those just vacated by my friend. We had been proceeding in this manner for some while when Pons stopped casually and turned to me. He made an elaborate ritual of clearing out the bowl of his pipe before tamping it with fresh tobacco.
"Solitude is a wonderful thing, Parker," he said. "It becomes more precious as we advance farther and farther into the twentieth century."
"I am not so sure, Pons…" I began when my companion rudely interrupted me.
"Come, Parker, solitude is at a premium. Even in the middle of a deserted swamp one cannot escape from the madding crowd. Good morning, doctor!"
To my astonishment a thick clump of bushes at the right of the path just ahead of us wavered, though there was no breeze. A moment later the bull-like form of Dr. Strangeways stepped on to the path. The doctor looked considerably embarrassed.
"Well, Mr. Pons," he rumbled. "I trust you did not think I was spying upon you?"
"I did not know what to think, doctor," said Pons blandly. "But if you wish to keep an eye on people without being observed, it is good to keep your binoculars in shadow. The sun was shining directly on to the lenses there."
The doctor bristled as though he were keeping his temper with difficulty.
"I was looking not at you, Mr. Pons, but at a pair of rare birds. I was concerned at their safety when I heard in the village that the walkers were on the marsh."
"I see," said Solar Pons, giving him a searching look. "However, I do not think you need be worried. They are not likely to go beyond the abbey ruins. You seem to have completed your post mortem rather quickly."
The doctor's eyes were clouded and blank as he turned them upon Pons.
"It was a routine matter after all. There is no doubt in my mind old Jessel died of drowning."
Solar Pons frowned.
"Yet you seemed to have some doubts earlier this morning, doctor. It was almost as though you yourself believed in the phantom of the marsh."
Strangeways drew himself up and his face looked troubled.
"I would not care to tell everyone this, Mr. Pons, but I felt guilty about Jessel. I had been deriding his stories, regarding them as mere drunkard's tales, but I myself saw something very strange after I left you last night."
"Indeed."
Strangeways nodded.
"I was called out after midnight to an emergency case. The patient's cottage was beside the main road beyond Grimstone Manor. I was driving along the rim of the marsh when I saw a weird blue light bobbing about, a considerable way off. It looked like a human figure but there was something unearthly about it."
Dr. Strangeways swallowed and there was doubt in his eyes as he looked at Pons somberly.
"It gave me quite a turn, Mr. Pons, I don't mind telling you. And I felt quite ashamed at disbelieving old Jessel. And when I saw him dead this morning my shock can be imagined. He was found, you see, quite near where I saw the figure last night. Ought I to tell the police and the coroner, do you think?"
There was an unexpected gentleness in Solar Pons' voice as he replied. He put his hand on the doctor's arm.
"Discretion for the time being, doctor, I feel. The fewer people who know about this the better."
The doctor nodded; there was a strange expression in his eyes as he gazed at Pons.
"Tell me," my companion continued, "what was this phantom like?"
Impatience was already returning to Strangeways' voice.
"I have already told you, Mr. Pons. It was a fiery, bluish figure. It was too far away to see any detail."
"But how did it appear or disappear?"
The doctor stared at Pons in exasperation.
"How should I know, Mr. Pons? It was already visible when I first became aware of it. As soon as I saw it I was so startled I almost drove off the road. When I looked again it suddenly disappeared."
"Just so."
Solar Pons nodded, an expression of satisfaction on his face. "As we have already heard. Like the pulling down of a blind, was it not?"
He turned to me.
"We shall be at the inn this evening, doctor, if we are required. Come, Parker."
We left the burly figure of the medical man standing in perplexity on the path. I glanced back once and saw the sun glinting on the rim of his binoculars, an expression of bafflement on his face.
A half hour of cautious casting about in the marsh brought us at last to our final destination, a huddle of squalid brick buildings that looked like an abandoned tenant farm. Solar Pons' eyes were quick and alert.
"Aha, Parker, this is more like it."
He bent down at the edge of the reeds where I could see the heavy impression of a foot. Pons had his lens out and was making a minute examination. He searched about for a few minutes, then traced the fading impressions up on to firmer ground where they were lost on a rocky outcrop.
I followed Pons over toward the dilapidated brick sheds. Their corrugated iron roofs were red with rust and it was obvious they had been abandoned for years.
"D'Eath Farm," said Pons, consulting his map. "A most appropriate name."
"What did the tracks tell you, Pons?"
He gave me a quizzical look.
"Quite a lot, Parker. Many people have been here. Some of the footprints I cannot make out. Certainly Strangeways has been here within the past few days. And possibly Tebble. I could not see the welts of his shooting boots because he was wearing them just now. But the imprints at the edge of the marsh there are similar to the ones he made in the soft earth when he was standing talking to us and the pawmarks of his retriever are unmistakable."