"After all," he thought, "the house can't run away, that will be
still there when I come back, and I ought to find out who this big
chap is and where he comes from."
In spite of the apparent clumsiness of his build and the ungainliness
of his movements it was extraordinary how swiftly and how quietly he
moved, a shadow could scarcely have made less sound than this man
did as he melted through the darkness and a swift runner would have
difficulty in keeping pace with him.
An old labourer going home late bade the big man a friendly good
night and passed on without seeing or hearing Dunn following close
behind, and a solitary woman, watching at her cottage door, saw
plainly the big man's tall form and heard his firm and heavy steps
and would have been ready to swear no other passed that way at that
time, though Dunn was not five yards behind, slipping silently and
swiftly by in the shelter of the trees lining the road.
A little further beyond this cottage a path, reached by climbing a
stile, led from the high road first across an open field and then
through the heart of a wood that seemed to be of considerable extent.
The man Dunn was following crossed this stile and when he had gone
a yard or two along the path he halted abruptly, as though all at
once grown uneasy, and looked behind.
From where he stood any one following him across the stile must have
shown plainly visible against the sky line, but though he lingered
for a moment or two, and even, when he walked on, still looked back
very frequently, he saw nothing.
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