Mr. Raven beckoned me to approach.

"Here's some most extraordinary news from Devonport--where Quick came
from," he said. "The inspector wired to the police there this morning,
telling them to communicate with his brother, whose name, you know,
was found on him. He's had a wire from them this afternoon--read it!"

He turned to the inspector, who placed a telegram in my hand. It ran
thus:

"Noah Quick was found murdered at lonely spot on riverside
near Saltash at an early hour this morning. So far no clue
whatever to murderer."

CHAPTER VI

SECRET THEFT

I handed the telegram back to the police-inspector with a glance that
took in the faces of all three men. It was evident that they were
thinking the same thought that had flashed into my own mind. The
inspector put it into words.

"This," he said in a low voice, tapping the bit of flimsy paper with
his finger, "this throws a light on the affair of this morning. No
ordinary crime, that, gentlemen! When two brothers are murdered on the
same night, at places hundreds of miles apart, it signifies something
out of the common. Somebody has had an interest in getting rid of both
men!"

"Wasn't this Noah Quick mentioned in some paper you found on Salter
Quick?" I asked.

"An envelope," replied the inspector. "We have it, of course.
Landlord--so I took it to mean--of the Admiral Parker, Haulaway
Street, Devonport. I wired to the police authorities there, telling
them of Salter Quick's death and asking them to communicate at once
with Noah. Their answer is--this!"

"It'll be at Devonport that the secret lies," observed Mr. Cazalette
suddenly. "Aye--that's where you'll be seeking for news!"

"We've got none here--about our affair," remarked the inspector. "I
set all my available staff to work as soon as I got back to
headquarters this forenoon, and up to the time I set off to show you
this, Mr. Raven, we'd learned nothing. It's a queer thing, but we
haven't come across anybody who saw this man after he left you, Mr.
Middlebrook, yesterday afternoon. You say he turned inland, towards
Denwick, when he left you after coming out of Claigue's place--well,
my men have inquired in every village and at every farmstead and
wayside cottage within an area of ten or twelve miles, and we haven't
heard a word of him. Where did he go? Whom did he come across?"

"I should say that's obvious," said I. "He came across the man of whom
he heard at the Mariner's