"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 mounted the cycle and rode off." "Towards Norwich?" "Yes, sir--in that direction." The grey-faced man at the back of the room was now all attention. Upon his countenance was a curious, intense look. The coroner noticed him, and became puzzled, even suspicious. Nobody knew the man or why he was present. Yet to him the death of Richard Harborne was, without a doubt, of the very greatest concern.