ADVENTURES OF THE PUZZLE CLUB
time possession of the photo, seized the opportunity for making a most
minute examination of it. In a few moments he held up his hands to
invoke silence.
" Baynes is right," he said. " There is important evidence there
which settles the matter with certainty. Assuming that the gentle-
man is really Lord Marksford—and the figure, so far as it is visible,
is his—I have no hesitation myself in saying that "
" Stop ! " all the members shouted at once.
" Don't break the rules of the club, Russell, though Wilson
did" said Melville. "Recollect that 'no member shall openly
disclose the solution to a puzzle unless all present consent.'"
" You need not have been alarmed," explained Russell. " I was
simply going to say that I have no hesitation in declaring that Lord
Marksford is walking in one particular direction. In which direction
I will tell you when you have all ' given it up/ "
63.—
The Cornish Cliff Mystery.
Though the incident known in the Club as " The Cornish Cliff
Mystery" has never been published, everyone remembers the case
with which it was connected—an embezzlement at Todd's Bank in
Cornhill a few years ago. Lamson and Marsh, two of the firm's
clerks, suddenly disappeared; and it was found that they had
absconded with a very large sum of money. There was an exciting
hunt for them by the police, who were so prompt in their action
that it was impossible for the thieves to get out of the country.
They were traced as far as Truro, and were known to be in hiding
in Cornwall.
Just at this time it happened that Henry Melville and Fred
Wilson were away together on a walking tour round the Cornish
coast. Like most people, they were interested in the case ; and one
morning, while at breakfast at a little inn, they learnt that the
absconding men had been tracked to that very neighbourhood, and
that a strong cordon of police had been drawn round the district,
making an escape very improbable. In fact, an inspector and a
constable came into the inn to make some inquiries, and exchanged
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