120 THE OUTLAW 



parts of the wood the keeper found slain 

 pheasants, all badly broken; the remains 

 of a squirrel one forepaw and a bushy 

 tail comprising the remains. Three dead 

 duck floated in the lake. Whatever new 

 and ghastly thing was causing the havoc, 

 he told his head man later, it seemed to 

 delight in destroying and killing for sport. 



Gradually the terror became the topic 

 of talk in the inns roundabout Bromley, 

 in Kent. Some of the bolder and more 

 imaginative declared that it was caused by 

 an Arctic owl one even said that he had 

 seen it stooping at a dog in the twilight. 

 He was a well-known liar. 



No one in the district which was outlying 

 to a large town just outside the suburban 

 area of south-east London had ever heard 

 of the like. 



The mystery was solved in a sudden 

 manner. The keeper had been setting 

 baited traps of the " gin " variety 

 tempting the unknown with the entrails 



