‘That he has been murdered? Because of several observations I have made. Let me enumerate them. A, the attitude of the police seems to me to be more consistent with a homicide investigation than with an inquiry into an accident. B, the circumstances surrounding the affair appear to be suspicious; as, for instance, the bite out of the path. Have you ever tried to dislodge a piece of that solidified mud? My dear sir, you couldn’t do it unless you positively danced on the spot. C, I observed by the light of my torch that the displaced clod had fallen to the foot of the bank. It held the impression of a nailed boot or shoe. Questing was the only man in evening dress at the concert. D (and, dear me, how departmental I sound), the clod had contained a white flag which lay beside it, the only white flag on that side of the mound. As far as I could see the grooves on the edge of the gap and down the sides of the clod must have been the hole made by the flag standard. I am certain Webley and his satellites have discovered these not inconsiderable phenomena. Which would account for their somewhat implacable attitude towards ourselves, don’t you feel? I too have been forbidden to leave Wai-ata-tapu. A tiresome restriction.’

‘I fail utterly,’ said Gaunt breathlessly, ‘to see why these ludicrous details should suggest that there has been foul play.’

‘Do you? And yet when Hamlet felt the point unbated did he not smell villainy?’

‘I haven’t the slightest idea what you mean. I still think it monstrous that I, who after all am a guest in this country, should be subjected to this imbecile entanglement in red tape. If the position continues,’ said Gaunt, speaking very rapidly and looking down his nose at Mr Falls, ‘I shall appeal directly to the Governor-General whom I have the honour to know personally.’

‘This is frightful,’ thought Dikon. ‘First a Chief Justice and now a Governor-General. We shall be cabling to the Royal Family if Webley remains unshaken.’

At this point Dr Ackrington appeared in the doorway.

‘May I come in?’ he asked.

Gaunt waved his hand.

‘I don’t know whether you realize it,’ said Dr Ackrington, taking them all in with a comprehensive glare, ‘but we are under suspicion of homicide, every man jack of us.’ He gave an angrily triumphant laugh.

‘I refuse to believe it!’ Gaunt shouted. ‘I refuse to be entangled. It was an accident. He was drunk and he stumbled. Nobody is to blame, I least of all. I refuse to be implicated.’

‘You can refuse till you’re black in the face, my good sir,’ said Dr Ackrington. ‘Much good will it do you. You liked him no better than the rest of us, a fact that even this purple monument to inefficiency must stumble across sooner or later.’

‘Do you mean Sergeant Webley?’ asked Falls.