When he rose once more and stood erect upon the beach, he saw under the shadow of the pines the figure of a tall thin man with a lean face and straggling reddish moustache, who was watching him with an eye plainly suspicious. He was dressed in knickerbockers and coat of rough tweed of a large checked pattern, and carried a spy-glass slung over his back. The detective went to him at once.
"Are you employed on the Inverashiel estate?" he asked civilly.
"I'm Duncan McGregor, his lordship's head keeper," was the reply, given in the cold tones of one accosted by an intruder.
Gimblet hastened to introduce himself and to explain his presence, and McGregor condescended to thaw.
"I should be very much obliged," said Gimblet, "if you would take a look at the sands where you saw me standing. I'd like to know your opinion on some marks that are there."
The keeper strode down to the beach.
"A boat will have been here," he pronounced after a rapid scrutiny.
"Lately?" asked Gimblet.
He saw the man's eyes go, as his own had done, to the watermarks on the rocks.
"No sae vary long ago," he said, "I'm thinkin' it will hae been the nicht before lairst that she came here."
"Ah," said Gimblet, "I'm glad you agree with me. That's what I thought myself. Do boats often come ashore on this beach?"
McGregor considered.
"It's the first time I ever h'ard of onybody doin' the like," he said at last. "The landin' stage is awa' at the ether side o' the p'int; it's aye there they land. There's nae a man in a' this glen would come in here, unless it whar for some special reason. It's no' a vary grand place tae bring a boat in. The rocks are narrow at the mouth."
"Do strangers often come to these parts?"
"There are no strangers come to Inverashiel," said the keeper. "The high road runs at the ether side o' the loch through Crianan, and the tramps and motors go over it, but never hae I known one o' that kind on our shore."
Gimblet observed with some amusement that the man spoke of motors and tramps as of varieties of the same breed; but all he said was: "Could you make inquiries as to whether anyone on the estate happens to have brought a boat in here during the last week? I should be glad if you could do so without mentioning my name, or letting anyone think it is important."