Edgar Wallace

“ Jimmy pulled up the rope after him and came down the ladder slowly.
“What did you see?” whispered Ferdie, agog with excitement.
“Nothing,” said Jimmy. “Get the car while I fold this ladder, Ferdie.”
“But you must have seen something,” urged Ferdie as the car was making its noiseless way across the heath.
“Nothing, except—Elmers is dead.”
“I thought so,” Ferdie nodded. “And what else did you discover?”
“What sort of a mind must a man have,” asked Jimmy slowly, “to read the burial service over a man he has helped murder, and to follow that performance by frying bacon?” ”

“ It was when he discovered the nature of their labor, that his heart came into his mouth. They were digging a hole. Presently the man who was in the hole stopped and climbed wearily forth, and then the three lifted something that was on the ground, and placed it in the earth. It was the body of a man. Jimmy had no doubts as to whose body it was. He moved closer, lying flat on the grass, and worming his way forward. Somebody was talking in a deep, emotional voice, and the curious intonation puzzled him, until he realized that the speaker was reading the burial service! ”

“ They waited a few minutes, and then they heard a soft thud.
“He has got to the other side,” whispered Ferdie excitedly and, standing up, they stepped gingerly across the road toward the wall. A rope was hanging from the iron spikes at the top.
“That's queer,” said Jimmy. “Perhaps he did forget his key, but if he'd forgotten his key, he wouldn't have remembered the rope.”
Jimmy was in a dilemma. If the man who went over was one of the four, he might follow, taking the risks he had anticipated. ”