"The discovery of the bone so near the Professor's house," he decided,
"cannot be coincidence only. We will waste no time out here, Lenora. We
will search the grounds. Come on."
They advanced towards the gate but found it locked. The wall was unusually
high as though to obscure a view of anything that lay on the other side.
Quest noticed with interest that, in places where it had shown signs of
crumbling away, it had been repaired. He contemplated the lock
thoughtfully and drew a little instrument from his pocket, an instrument
which had the appearance of a many-sided key.
"Looks like storming the fortress, eh?" he remarked. "Here goes, any way."
The gate swung open with a single turn of the wrist. Quest glanced for a
moment at the lock and replaced the instrument in his pocket.
"The Professor's not looking for visitors," he muttered. "Gee! What a
wilderness!"
It was hard to know which way to turn. Every path was choked with tangled
weeds and bushes. Here and there remained one or two wonderful old trees,
but the vegetation for the greater part consisted of laurel and other
shrubs, which from lack of attention had grown almost into a jungle. They
wandered about almost aimlessly for nearly half-an-hour. Then Quest came
to a sudden standstill. Lenora gripped his arm. They had both heard the
same sound--a queer, crooning little cry, half plaintive, half angry.
Quest looked over his right shoulder along a narrow, overgrown path which
seemed to end abruptly in an evergreen hedge.
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