is 'ead in the brambles
like."

"As if he had fallen there?"

"No, sir. As if 'e'd been thrown into the side o' the road. There was
blood--a lot of it all alon' the road."

"What did you do?"

"Well, I pulled 'im out, and saw a nasty cut in 'is throat. So I drove
on to North Walsham and saw Mr. Bennet."

"Anything else?"

"No, sir, nawthin' else."

"Any juryman wish to ask a question?" inquired the coroner, looking
across at the twelve local taxpayers.

The foreman, a stout farmer, said:

"I'd like, sir, to ask the witness if the gentleman was dead when he
pulled him out of the ditch."

"Dead as mutton," was the witness's prompt reply.

"You think he was dead? He may not have been," the coroner remarked.

"Well, I put my 'and on 'is 'eart an' it didn't beat, sir."

"Very well," said the official holding the inquiry, "that will do."

Superintendent Bennet, of the Norfolk Constabulary, stationed at North
Walsham, gave evidence regarding the discovery. He described how the
previous witness had called at the police-station, and how they went out
in a light trap on the Norwich road together.

"I found deceased lying on the grass on the left side of the road close
to a telegraph post," he said, while a tall, grey-faced, well-dressed
man of forty-five, of a somewhat military appearance, who was seated at
the back of the room, leaned forward attentively to catch every word.
"The thorn bushes beside the ditch were broken down by the body
apparently being cast there. It was getting dusk when I arrived on the
spot, but I could clearly see traces of blood for about forty feet from
the ditch forward in the direction of Norwich."

"Then the body must have been carried back from the spot where the blow
was struck?"

"It was dragged back. A shower had fallen in the afternoon, and there
were distinct marks on the damp road where the heels of the deceased had
scraped along, and also the footmarks of the murderer."

At these words those present in court held their breath.

"Have you taken any action in regard to those footmarks?"

"I have not, sir. But the detectives from Norwich have," answered the
officer.

"Could you see the track of deceased's motor-cycle?"

"Quite plainly. The deceased apparently dismounted close to the spot
where the first trace of blood appeared, for there were marks of a
struggle. The gentleman must have been struck down and promptly flung
into the ditch, after which his assailant moun