xamination of the body the
Doctor was of opinion that death had been caused, not by the fall from
the Coupee, which accounted for the dreadful bruises, but by violent
blows on the head with a hammer or some sueh thing prior to the fall.
They wanted to find out all about it.

The Doctor stood up and confirmed what the Senechal had said, went
somewhat more into detail to substantiate his opinion, and ended by
saying, "The head, as it happens, is less bruised than any other part of
the body, except on the crown, and that is practically beaten in, and
not, I am prepared to swear, by a fall. These wounds were the immediate
cause of death, and they were made before he fell down the rocks.
Besides, he went down feet first. The abrasions on the legs and thighs
prove that beyond a doubt. Then again, the base of the skull is not
fractured, as it most certainly would have been if he had fallen on his
head. Death was undoubtedly the result of those wounds in the head. It
is impossible for me to say for certain with what kind of weapon they
were made, but it was probably something round and blunt."

"Now," said the Senechal, when the Doctor had finished, and the hum and
the growl which followed had died down again, "will any of you who know
anything about this matter come forward and tell us all you know?"

Stephen Gard stood up at once and all eyes settled on him. Then Peter
Mauger was pushed along from the back, with friendly thumps and growling
injunctions to speak up. But the looks bestowed on Gard were of quite a
different quality from those given to Peter, and the men at the table
could not but notice it.

"We will take Peter Mauger first. Let him be sworn," said the Senechal,
and Gard sat down.

The Greffier swore Peter in the old Island fashion--"Vous jurez par la
foi que vous devez a Dieu que vous direz la verite, et rien que la
verite, et tous ce que vous connaissez dans cette cause, et que Dieu
vous soit en aide! (You swear by the faith which you owe to God that you
will tell the truth, and only the truth, and all that you know
concerning this case, and so help you God!)"

Peter put up his right hand and swore so to do.

"Now tell us all you know," said the Senechal.

And Peter ramblingly told how he and Tom had been drinking together the
night before, and how Tom had started off home and he had gone to bed.

"Were you both drunk?"

"Well--"

"Very well, you were. Did you think it right to let your friend go