s I approached the mortuary it became evident that some, at least, of
Thorndyke's admonitions were by no means unnecessary. The place was in
charge of a police sergeant, who watched my approach suspiciously; and
some half-dozen men, obviously newspaper reporters, hovered about the
entrance like a pack of jackals. I presented the coroner's order which
Mr. Marchmont had obtained, and which the sergeant read with his back
against the wall, to prevent the newspaper men from looking over his
shoulder.

My credentials being found satisfactory, the door was unlocked and I
entered, accompanied by three enterprising reporters, whom, however,
the sergeant summarily ejected and locked out, returning to usher me
into the presence and to observe my proceedings with intelligent but
highly embarrassing interest.

The bones were laid out on a large table and covered with a sheet,
which the sergeant slowly turned back, watching my face intently as he
did so to note the impression that the spectacle made upon me. I
imagine that he must have been somewhat disappointed by my impassive
demeanor, for the remains suggested to me nothing more than a rather
shabby set of "student's osteology." The whole collection had been set
out by the police surgeon (as the sergeant informed me) in their proper
anatomical order; notwithstanding which I counted them over carefully
to make sure that none were missing, checking them by the list with
which Thorndyke had furnished me.

"I see you have found the left thigh-bone," I remarked, observing that
this did not appear in the list.

"Yes," said the sergeant; "that turned up yesterday evening in a big
pond called Baldwin's Pond in the Sandpit plain, near Little Monk Wood."

"Is that near here?" I asked.

"In the forest up Loughton way," was the reply.

I made a note of the fact (on which the sergeant looked as if he was
sorry he had mentioned it), and then turned my attention to a general
consideration of the bones before examining them in detail. Their
appearance would have been improved and examination facilitated by a
thorough scrubbing, for they were just as they had been taken from
their respective resting-places, and it was difficult to decide whether
their reddish-yellow color was an actual stain or due to a deposit on
the surface. In any case, as it affected them all alike, I thought it
an interesting feature and made a note of it. They bore numerous
traces of their sojourn in the vari