Joy--the man who, like himself, was asking
for information about an old churchyard in which people called
Netherfield are buried."

"We've heard all about that from the man who told him--Jim Gelthwaite,
the drover," replied the inspector. "He's told us of his meeting with
such a man, a night or two ago. But we can't get any information on
that point, either. Nobody else seems to have seen that man, any more
than they've seen Salter Quick!"

"I suppose there are places along this coast where a man might hide?"
I suggested.

"Caves, now?" put in Mr. Cazalette.

"There may be," admitted the inspector. "Of course I shall have the
coast searched."

"Aye, but ye'll not find anything--now!" affirmed Mr. Cazalette. "Yon
man, that Jim the drover told of, he might be hiding here or there in
a cave, or some out o' the way place, of which there's plenty in this
part, till he did the deed, but when it was once done, he'd be away!
The railway's not that far, and there's early morning trains going
north and south."

"We've been at the railway folk, at all the near stations," remarked
the inspector. "They could tell nothing. It seems to me," he
continued, turning to Mr. Raven, and nodding sidewise at Mr.
Cazalette, "that this gentleman hits the nail on the head when he says
it's to Devonport that we'll be turning for explanations--I'm coming
to the conclusion that the whole affair has been engineered from that
quarter."

"Aye!" said Mr. Cazalette, laconically confident. "Ye'll learn more
about Salter when ye hear more about Noah. And it's a very bonny
mystery and with an uncommonly deep bottom to it!"

"I've wired to Devonport for full particulars about the affair there,"
said the inspector. "No doubt I shall have them by the time our
inquest opens tomorrow."

I forget whether these particulars had reached him, when, next
morning, Mr. Raven, Mr. Cazalette, the gamekeeper Tarver, and myself
walked across the park to the wayside inn to which Salter Quick's body
had been removed, and where the coroner was to hold his inquiry. I
remember, however, that nothing was done that morning beyond a merely
formal opening of the proceedings, and that a telegram was received
from the police at Devonport in which it was stated that they were
unable to find out if the two brothers had any near relations--no one
there knew of any. Altogether, I think, nothing was revealed that day
beyond what we knew already, and so far as I remember matter