The jurors returned, and with a final glance at the buffalo’s head, as though he expected it to tell him the time, Mr Mortimer began business. First the sergeant identified the body of his subordinate. Standing rigidly at attention he rattled off the oath at a terrific speed, running his evidence on to the end of it without a stop. He could soon show the coroner how to do it. Mr Mortimer never raised his eyes from his papers. ‘I may say, sir . . .’ began the sergeant impressively. ‘You may say what you like, sergeant, when you’re asked for it,’ snapped the coroner. ‘That’s enough.’ The sergeant stepped back, full of offended dignity. The jury were impressed. Mr Mortimer was behaving in accordance with his reputation. Other evidence followed rapidly. George and Abner leaned forward, listening. George with his head in his hands and his eyes staring out under the arch of his fingers. The second finger of his right hand still beat out the rhythm of the music-hall song that was running in the back of his mind. ‘Dr Hendrie!’ _‘I swear by Almighty God that the evidence I shall give to this court shall be the truth_, _the whole truth_, _and nothing but the truth_. Arthur Cuthbert Hendrie. Thirty-eight. M.R.C.S. and L.R.C.P. I am a physician and surgeon practising in Lesswardine. I had seen deceased but did not know him. Yesterday evening before ten o’clock I was called to the Pound House. I arrived there between ten and eleven . . . nearer eleven, and found deceased lying on the floor of the bar with blood and serum flowing from ears and nose. Both ears. He was quite dead.’ ‘Quite dead. . . . Can you say how long he had been dead?’ ‘No.’ ‘Very well. Go on.’ ‘I immediately formed the opinion . . . they told me that he had had a violent fall . . . that death was due to a fractured base of the skull. There was a bruise over the left temporal region.’ ‘You performed a post-mortem examination.’ ‘Yes. This morning. I found the fracture that I had suspected in the middle fossa.’ ‘Will your honour ask’n what that there means?’ ‘The witness means the middle part of the base of the skull. FOSSA,’ the coroner explained loftily. ‘Death, no doubt, was instantaneous. The condition was consistent with the story of a violent fall on a stone floor. The same condition might have been caused by a blunt instrument. Deceased was old for his years, as shown by the atheromatous condition of the cerebral arteries.’ ‘Very good. Have you any questions to ask the witness?’ The jury all shook their heads. ‘If you are in a hurry, Dr Hendrie, I think we can spare you.’ ‘Thank you, sir. Good day.’ ‘Daniel Prosser Hind!’