1Three people sat eating breakfast in the kitchen.

2Outside, the sun shone. It was a lovely day.

3The storm was a thing of the past.

4And with the change in the weather, a change had come in the mood of the prisoners on the island.

5They felt now like people just awakening from a nightmare. There was danger, yet, but it was danger in daylight. That paralyzing atmosphere of fear that had wrapped them round like a blanket yesterday while the wind howled outside was gone.

6Lombard said: "We'll try heliographing today with a mirror from the highest point of the island.

7Some bright lad wandering on the cliff will recognize SOS when he sees it, I hope.

8In the evening we could try a bonfire only there isn't much wood and anyway they might just think it was song and dance and merriment. "

9Vera said: "Surely some one can read Morse. And then they'll come to take us off. Long before this evening."

10Lombard said: "The weather's cleared all right, but the sea hasn't gone down yet. Terrific swell on! They won't be able to get a boat near the island before tomorrow."

11Vera cried: "Another night in this place!"

12Lombard shrugged his shoulders. "May as well face it! Twentyfour hours will do it, I think. If we can last out that, we'll be all right."

13Blore cleared his throat. He said: "We'd better come to a clear understanding. What's happened to Armstrong?"

14Lombard said: "Well, we've got one piece of evidence. Only three little Indian boys left on the dinnertable. It looks as though Armstrong had got his quietus."

15Vera said: "Then why haven't you found his dead body?"

16Blore said: "Exactly."

17Lombard shook his head. He said: "It's damned odd no getting over it."

18Blore said doubtfully: "It might have been thrown into the sea."

19Lombard said sharply: "By whom? You? Me? You saw him go out of the front door. You come along and find me in my room. We go out and search together. When the devil had I time to kill him and carry his body round the island?"

20Blore said: "I don't know. But I do know one thing."

21Lombard said: "What's that?"

22Blore said: "The revolver. It was your revolver. It's in your possession now. There's nothing to show that it hasn't been in your possession all along." "Come now, Blore, we were all searched." "Yes, you'd hidden it away before that happened. Afterwards you just took it back again." "My good blockhead, I swear to you that it was put back in my drawer. Greatest surprise I ever had in my life when I found it there."

23Blore said: "You ask us to believe a thing like that! Why the devil should Armstrong, or any one else for that matter, put it back?"

24Lombard raised his shoulders hopelessly. "I haven't the least idea. It's just crazy. The last thing one would expect. There seems no point in it."

25Blore agreed. "No, there isn't. You might have thought of a better story." "Rather proof that I'm telling the truth, isn't it?" "I don't look at it that way."

26Philip said: "You wouldn't."

27Blore said: "Look here, Mr. Lombard, if you're an honest man, as you pretend "

28Philip murmured: "When did I lay claims to being an honest man? No, indeed, I never said that."

29Blore went on stolidly: "If you're speaking the truth there's only one thing to be done. As long as you have that revolver, Miss Claythorne and I are at your mercy. The only fair thing is to put that revolver with the other things that are locked up and you and I will hold the two keys still."

30Philip Lombard lit a cigarette.

31As he puffed smoke, he said: "Don't be an ass." "You won't agree to that?" "No, I won't. That revolver's mine. I need it to defend myself and I'm going to keep it."

32Blore said: "In that case we're bound to come to one conclusion." "That I'm U.N. Owen? Think what you damned well please. But I'll ask you, if that's so, why I didn't pot you with the revolver last night? I could have, about twenty times over."

33Blore shook his head.

34He said: "I don't know and that's a fact. You must have had some reason."

35Vera had taken no part in the discussion. She stirred now and said: "I think you're both behaving like a pair of idiots."

36Lombard looked at her. "What's this?"

37Vera said: "You've forgotten the nursery rhyme. Don't you see there's a clue there?"

38She recited in a meaning voice: "Four little Indian boys going out to sea;

39A red herring swallowed one and then there were three. "

40She went on: "A red herring that's the vital clue. Armstrong's not dead... He took away the china Indian to make you think he was. You may say what you like Armstrong's on the island still. His disappearance is just a red herring across the track..."

41Lombard sat down again.

42He said: "You know, you may be right."

43Blore said: "Yes, but if so, where is he? We've searched the place. Outside and inside."

44Vera said scornfully: "We all searched for the revolver, didn't we, and couldn't find it? But it was somewhere all the time!"

45Lombard murmured: "There's a slight difference in size, my dear, between a man and a revolver."

46Vera said: "I don't care I'm sure I'm right."

47Blore murmured: "Rather giving himself away, wasn't it? Actually mentioning a red herring in the verse. He could have written it up a bit different."

48Vera cried: "But don't you see, he's mad? It's all mad! The whole thing of going by the rhyme is mad! Dressing up the judge, killing Rogers when he was chopping sticks drugging Mrs. Rogers so that she overslept herself arranging for a bumblebee when Miss Brent died! It's like some horrible child playing a game. It's all got to fit in."

49Blore said: "Yes, you're right." He thought a minute. "At any rate there's no Zoo on the island. He'll have a bit of trouble getting over that."

50Vera cried: "Don't you see? We're the Zoo... Last night, we were hardly human any more.

51We're the Zoo..."

52II

53They spent the morning on the cliffs, taking it in turns to flash a mirror at the mainland.

54There were no signs that any one saw them. No answering signals. The day was fine, with a slight haze. Below, the sea weaved in a gigantic swell. There were no boats out.

55They had made another abortive search of the island. There was no trace of the missing physician.

56Vera looked up at the house from where they were standing.

57She said, her breath coming with a slight catch in it: "One feels safer here, out in the open... Don't let's go back into the house again."

58Lombard said: "Not a bad idea. We're pretty safe here, no one can get at us without our seeing him a long time beforehand."

59Vera said: "We'll stay here."

60Blore said: "Have to pass the night somewhere. We'll have to go back to the house then."

61Vera shuddered, "I can't bear it. I can't go through another night!"

62Philip said: "You'll be safe enough locked in your room."

63Vera murmured: "I suppose so."

64She stretched out her hands, murmuring: "It's lovely to feel the sun again..."

65She thought: "How odd... I'm almost happy. And yet I suppose I'm actually in danger...

66Somehow now nothing seems to matter... not in daylight... I feel full of power

67I feel that I can't die..."

68Blore was looking at his wristwatch. He said: "It's two o'clock. What about lunch?"

69Vera said obstinately: "I'm not going back to the house. I'm going to stay here in the open." "Oh, come now, Miss Claythorne. Got to keep your strength up, you know."

70Vera said: "If I even see a tinned tongue, I shall be sick! I don't want any food. People go days on end with nothing sometimes when they're on a diet."

71Blore said: "Well, I need my meals regular. What about you, Mr. Lombard?"

72Philip said: "You know, I don't relish the idea of tinned tongue particularly. I'll stay here with

73Miss Claythorne. "

74Blore hesitated. Vera said: "I shall be quite all right. I don't think he'll shoot me as soon as your back is turned if that's what you're afraid of."

75Blore said: "It's all right if you say so. But we agreed we ought not to separate."

76Philip said: "You're the one who wants to go into the lion's den. I'll come with you if you like?" "No, you won't," said Blore. "You'll stay here."

77Philip laughed. "So you're still afraid of me? Why, I could shoot you both this very minute if I liked."

78Blore said: "Yes, but that wouldn't be according to plan. It's one at a time, and it's got to be done in a certain way." "Well," said Philip, "you seem to know all about it." "Of course," said Blore, "it's a bit jumpy going up to the house alone "

79Philip said softly: "And therefore, will I lend you my revolver? Answer, no, I will not! Not quite so simple as that, thank you."

80Blore shrugged his shoulders and began to make his way up the steep slope to the house.

81Lombard said softly: "Feeding time at the Zoo! The animals are very regular in their habits!"

82Vera said anxiously: "Isn't it very risky, what he's doing?" "In a sense you mean no, I don't think it is! Armstrong's not armed, you know, and anyway Blore is twice a match for him in physique and he's very much on his guard. And anyway it's a sheer impossibility that Armstrong can be in the house.

83I know he's not there. " "But what other solution is there?

84Philip said softly: "There's Blore." "Oh do you really think ?" "Listen, my girl. You heard Blore's story. You've got to admit that if it's true, I can't possibly have had anything to do with Armstrong's disappearance. His story clears me. But it doesn't clear him. We've only his word for it that he heard footsteps and saw a man going downstairs and out at the front door. The whole thing may be a lie. He may have got rid of Armstrong a couple of hours before that." "How?"

85Lombard shrugged his shoulders. "That we don't know. But if you ask me, we've only one danger to fear and that danger is Blore! What do we know about the man? Less than nothing! All this expoliceman story may be bunkum! He may be anybody a mad millionaire a crazy business man an escaped inmate of Broadmoor. One thing's certain. He could have done every one of these crimes."

86Vera had gone rather white. She said in a slightly breathless voice: "And supposing he gets us?"

87Lombard said softly, patting the revolver in his pocket: "I'm going to take very good care he doesn't."

88Then he looked at her curiously. "Touching faith in me, haven't you, Vera? Quite sure I wouldn't shoot you?"

89Vera said: "One has got to trust some one... As a matter of fact I think you're wrong about

90Blore. I still think it's Armstrong. "

91She turned to him suddenly. "Don't you feel all the time that there's some one. Some one watching and waiting?"

92Lombard said slowly: "That's just nerves."

93Vera said eagerly: "Then you have felt it?"

94She shivered. She bent a little closer. "Tell me you don't think " She broke off, went on: "I read a story once about two judges that came to a small American town from the Supreme Court. They administered justice Absolute Justice. Because they didn't come from this world at all..."

95Lombard raised his eyebrows.

96He said: "Heavenly visitants, eh? No, I don't believe in the supernatural. This business is human enough."

97Vera said in a low voice: "Sometimes I'm not sure..."

98Lombard looked at her. He said: "That's conscience..." After a moment's silence he said very quietly: "So you did drown that kid after all?"

99Vera said vehemently: "I didn't! I didn't! You've no right to say that!"

100He laughed easily. "Oh, yes, you did, my good girl! I don't know why. Can't imagine. There was a man in it probably. Was that it?"

101A sudden feeling of lassitude, of intense weariness, spread over Vera's limbs. She said in a dull voice: "Yes there was a man in it..."

102Lombard said softly: "Thanks. That's what I wanted to know..."

103Vera sat up suddenly. She exclaimed: "What was that? It wasn't an earthquake?"

104Lombard said: "No, no. Queer, though a thud shook the ground. And I thought did you hear a sort of cry? I did."

105They stared up at the house.

106Lombard said: "It came from there. We'd better go up and see." "No, no, I'm not going." "Please yourself. I am."

107Vera said desperately: "All right. I'll come with you."

108They walked up the slope to the house. The terrace was peaceful and innocuouslooking in the sunshine. They hesitated there a minute, then instead of entering by the front door, they made a cautious circuit of the house.

109They found Blore. He was spreadeagled on the stone terrace on the east side, his head crushed and mangled by a great block of white marble.

110Philip looked up. He said: "Whose is that window just above?"

111Vera said in a low shuddering voice: "It's mine and that's the clock from my mantelpiece... I remember now. It was shaped like a bear."

112She repeated and her voice shook and quavered: "It was shaped like a bear..."

113Ill

114Philip grasped her shoulder.

115He said, and his voice was urgent and grim: "This settles it. Armstrong is in hiding somewhere in that house. I'm going to get him."

116But Vera clung to him. She cried: "Don't be a fool. It's us now! We're next! He wants us to look for him! He's counting on it!"

117Philip stopped. He said thoughtfully: "There's something in that."

118Vera cried: "At any rate, you do admit now I was right."

119He nodded. "Yes you win! It's Armstrong all right. But where the devil did he hide himself?

120We went over the place with a finetooth comb. "

121Vera said urgently: "If you didn't find him last night, you won't find him now... That's commonsense."

122Lombard said reluctantly: "Yes, but " "He must have prepared a secret place beforehand naturally of course it's just what he would do. You know, like a Priest's Hole in old manor houses." "This isn't an old house of that kind." "He could have had one made."

123Philip Lombard shook his head.

124He said: "We measured the place that first morning. I'll swear there's no space unaccounted for."

125Vera said: "There must be..."

126Lombard said: "I'd like to see "

127Vera cried: "Yes, you'd like to see! And he knows that! He's in there waiting for you."

128Lombard said, half bringing out the revolver from his pocket: "I've got this, you know." "You said Blore was all right that he was more than a match for Armstrong. So he was physically, and he was on the lookout too. But what you don't seem to realize is that Armstrong is mad! And a madman has all the advantages on his side. He's twice as cunning as any one sane can be."

129Lombard put back the revolver in his pocket. He said: "Come on, then."

130IV

131Lombard said at last: "What are we going to do when night comes?"

132Vera didn't answer. He went on accusingly: "You haven't thought of that?"

133She said helplessly: "What can we do? Oh, my God, I'm frightened..."

134Philip Lombard said thoughtfully: "It's fine weather. There will be a moon. We must find a place up by the top cliffs perhaps. We can sit there and wait for morning. We mustn't go to sleep...

135We must watch the whole time. And if any one comes up towards us, I shall shoot!"

136He paused: "You'll be cold, perhaps, in that thin dress?"

137Vera said with a raucous laugh: "Cold? I should be colder if I were dead!"

138Philip Lombard said quietly: "Yes, that's true..."

139Vera moved restlessly.

140She said: "I shall go mad if I sit here any longer. Let's move about." "All right."

141They paced slowly up and down, along the line of the rocks overlooking the sea.

142The sun was dropping towards the west. The light was golden and mellow. It enveloped them in a golden glow.

143Vera said, with a sudden nervous little giggle: "Pity we can't have a bathe..."

144Philip was looking down towards the sea. He said abruptly: "What's that, there? You see by that big rock? No a little further to the right."

145Vera stared. She said: "It looks like somebody's clothes!" "A bather, eh?" Lombard laughed. "Queer. I suppose it's only seaweed."

146Vera said: "Let's go and look." "It is clothes," said. Lombard as they drew nearer. "A bundle of them. That's a boot. Come on, let's scramble along here."

147They scrambled over the rocks.

148Vera stopped suddenly. She said: "It's not clothes it's a man..."

149The man was wedged between two rocks, flung there by the tide earlier in the day.

150Lombard and Vera reached it in a last scramble. They bent down.

151A purple discoloured face a hideous drowned face...

152Lombard said: "My God! It's Armstrong..."