Adders on the Heath

They made their way along the secondary track until it joined the main one. Then, following this until it met the gravelled road, they turned to the left and crossed the bridge.

'This will be it,' said Richardson. They stepped on to rough grass and found themselves among trees. There was no marked path, but the trees, mostly pines, were not very close together and it was easy enough to follow the course of the stream. It was at this point that the hotel collie manifested himself and joined them.

'Damn that dog!' said Richardson. He stooped and fondled the collie. It bounded along, barking joyously.

'Yes, you're right,' said Denis. 'How big and heavy was this chap you saw? Colnbrook, I mean.'

'Oh, I really don't know! You don't go trying to judge height and weight when you find a dead man in your tent! All I remember about Colnbrook is that he was about my height and seemed fairly chunky. Why?'

'Oh, well, I was only wondering-if he was murdered, I mean-whether it was the work of only one person. Still, I suppose the police will establish that. Of course, I'm hoping it was accidental, or that he was taken ill. Where do we go now?'

'Well, it's all a bit circumscribed, really, for all that it looks a vast expanse. You'd think that wood over on the far side would lead somewhere, but, actually, it peters out on this side of the stream. There's almost a right- angle bend.'

'Let's have a look, anyway,' said Denis.

'You know,' said Richardson, as they left the stream and took a broad track marked heavily by caterpillar wheels, car tyres and hoof-prints which led over the heath to the wood, 'I do so wish I'd told the police I'd met Colnbrook before. It'll be absolutely ruinous for me if it comes out now-that is, if the death wasn't accidental.'

'Oh, the police aren't going to worry too much about that,' said Denis easily. 'They understand panic. Besides, as we learned in our youth, the best way to get out of difficulties is to tell a lie, a good lie, and stick to it. You only had an electric torch, remember, and you certainly weren't expecting to find a dead man in your tent. How well did you know this blighter, anyway? I know you met him again after you socked him on that cross-country run. You remember telling me about that?'

'I've never seen or heard of him since, until this wretched business, except for the railway station episode.'

'Then, if you'll pardon my bluntness of speech, what the hell are you worrying about? Those incidental manifestations of the sporting spirit are two a penny. If he had murdered you, it might have been a bit different, although, I think, not very much. Your socking him could have supplied him with the shadow of a motive, I suppose. But, in the case under review, having put it across him for criticising your birth and breeding, you'd satisfied your ego and had no more use for vengeance, and he responded by landing you with that girl. My advice is to see the facts clearly and see them whole, and then, for God's sake, to forget all about them.'

There was a silence as they tramped onwards towards the woods. It lasted a full two minutes. Then Richardson said, 'Thanks. That clears the air.' He sounded doubtful, however.

'Look here, why have you got it so firmly into your bean that he was murdered?' demanded Denis. 'You didn't notice any injury?'

'I didn't stop to notice anything much. I do just remember a slight smell of almonds when I tried to revive him, you know.'

'Well, you did what you could when you telephoned from the hotel. Incidentally, I don't for a moment believe that we're going to find his body, however much we trek around. The chap or chaps-and I distinctly favour the plural-who exchanged the corpses will have taken him far enough away from here.'

'I'm not so sure,' said Richardson, 'that I want to find his body, after all. Won't the police think it damned fishy if we do?'

Denis considered this point.

'I see what you mean,' he said. 'Perhaps I was feeling a bit over-enthusiastic when we started out. I quite see that it's better, from your point of view, to have your tent connected with a dead bloke whom you didn't know, than with somebody whom you did. Oh, yes, I think you may have got something there. Nevertheless, I'm enjoying the walk, so, after all, perhaps we needn't start beating the undergrowth and peering into bushes and all that. We'll just toddle on and enjoy the scenery.'

They entered the woods and soon found themselves again on the banks of the stream. It was deep and dark-brown here, and it flowed in steady silence under the trees. There was no path. On the opposite side of the water a woodman and his mate were felling a tree. The two young men stayed for a few minutes to watch, and greetings were exchanged across the stream.

'Well,' said Denis, as they turned left and came out of the woods, 'whichever way either of those dead men came or was taken, it couldn't have been this way. Nobody, either on foot or in a car, could have forded the river hereabouts. Let's do a long cast round and walk our legs off.'

This seemed a reasonable suggestion, but they were not allowed to follow it up. The 'long cast round' foreshadowed by Denis brought them to the edge of another and a greater wood. This wood, moreover, was an enclosure and admittance to it was gained by several widely-spaced gates, to one of which a rudimentary track brought the walkers. At this gate Denis paused. The enclosure was bounded by a strong fence, but the gate was on a latch.

'Shall we?' he asked, unfastening the gate without waiting for an answer. The two of them entered the unresisting fastness and Denis closed the gate behind them. The young men found themselves on a kind of raised banking and among trees, undergrowth and-so slowly does water dry away in the thickly-wooded parts of the Forest-pools of considerable size.

'Let's run,' said Richardson. Denis groaned, but complied with the obliquely-expressed command. He was not a talented runner. He lacked Richardson's style and easy grace, and, as they jumped a ditch which carried a sluggish stream athwart their path, he slipped on an over-irrigated patch of earth, fell over the dog and took a toss into some bushes. The dog barked with irrational enthusiasm and then began to howl. Denis picked himself up, but, even so, found that he could not keep his footing.

From somewhere near at hand a voice called,