Underneath was written:
"From B--follow 1 1-2 m. Take third road--3 or 5."
The paper bore date of that day, and I guessed that it was meant to
show the way to the supposed hiding-place of the boy.
Then, as I looked again, the words and lines touched a cord of memory.
Something I had seen or known before was vaguely suggested. I groped in
the obscurity for a moment, vainly reaching for the phantom that danced
just beyond the grasp of my mental fingers.
There was no time to lose in speculating, and I turned to the work that
pressed before us. But as I thrust the papers into my pocket to resume
the search for Barkhouse, the elusive memory flashed on me. The diagram
of the enemy recalled the single slip of paper I had found in the
pocket of Henry Wilton's coat on the fatal night of my arrival. I had
kept it always with me, for it was the sole memorandum left by him of
the business that had brought him to his death. I brought it out, very
badly creased and rumpled from much carrying, but still quite as
legible as on the night I had first seen it.
Placed side by side with the map I had before me, the resemblance was
less close than I had thought. Yet all the main features were the same.
There was the road branching thrice; a cross in both marked the
junction of the third road as though it gave sign of a building or some
natural landmark; and the other features were indicated in the same
order. No--there was a difference in this point; there were five
crosses on the third road in the enemy's diagram, while there were but
four in mine.
Pages:
267
268
269
270
271
272
273
274
275
276
277
278
279
280
281
282
283
284
285
286
287
288
289
290
291