Some  of  the  elders,  as  well  as  the  boys,  believed  in
their  hearts  that  the  pond  had  not,  after  all,  been  sat-


86


isfactorily  examined,  and  that  Abel  Edwards  might
still  lie  there.  "Ever  since  I  can  remember  any-
thing, I've  heard  that  pond  in  that  place  'ain^t  got
any  bottom/'  one  old  man  would  say,  and  another
add,  with  triumphant  conclusion,  "  If  he  ain't  there,
where  is  he  ?"

That  indeed  was  the  question.  All  solutions  of
mysteries  have  their  possibilities  in  the  absence  of
proof.  'No  trace  of  Abel  Edwards  had  been  found
in  the  woodland  where  he  had  been  working,  and  no
trace  of  him  for  miles  around.  The  search  had  been
thorough.  Other  ponds  of  less  evil  repute  had  also
been  dragged,  and  the  little  river  which  ran  through
the  village,  and  two  brooks  of  considerable  impor-
tance in  the  spring.  If  Abel  Edwards  had  taken  his
own  life,  the  conclusion  was  inevitable  that  his  body
must  lie  in  the  pond,  which  had  always  been  re-
ported unfathomable,  and  might  be,  after  all.
