“Larry was in the shemozzle, but there were only two constables and he plugged the one who laid Billy out. The other gave him both barrels but he doubts if he so much as winged him. Larry held him and the farmer at bay with his automatic, and backed into a field of standing corn. Neither of them cared to follow him without more help. By the time that arrived there was nothing to find except his tracks through the corn which came out on this road. I’ve sent men the other way and we were seeing if we could pick up any trace in this direction.”

A few quick questions made the matter clear. A couple of men detailed to patrol the road had received information from a farmhand of two strangers moving about the outbuildings of a farm. Their movements had, in light of the mysterious police doings information of which had spread over the marsh, struck him as suspicious.