‘Well, sir,’ said Webley, watching him carefully, ‘there’s no call to put it like that. At the same time, if you two gentlemen care to stroll over to the pa, I’m sure I’d be much obliged.’

‘Splendid!’ cried Mr Falls gaily. ‘May we go by the short route? It will be much quicker and since, as I imagine, the cauldron is all set about with your myrmidons, neither of us will have an opportunity to add articles of evening dress to the seething mud. You could give us a chit to your men, no doubt.’

Greatly to Dikon’s astonishment, and somewhat to his dismay, Webley raised no objection to this project. Dikon and Mr Falls set out, by the all too familiar path, for the native reserve. Mr Falls led the way, limping a little it is true, but not, it seemed, greatly inconvenienced this morning by his lumbago.

‘I must congratulate you,’ he said pleasantly, ‘on the attitude you adopted at our rather abortive conference. You felt that our anatomist’s flights into the realms of conjecture were becoming fantastic. So, I must confess, did I.’

‘You did!’ Dikon ejaculated. ‘Then, I must say…’ He stopped short.

‘You were about to say that I didn’t contradict him. My dear sir, you saved me the trouble. You propounded my views to a nicety.’

‘I’m afraid I find that difficult to believe,’ said Dikon drily.

‘You do? Ah, yes, of course. You regard me as the prime suspect. Very naturally. Do you realize, Mr Bell, that if I’m tried for murder, you will be the chief witness for the prosecution? Why, bless my soul, you almost caught me red-handed. Always presuming that my hands were red.’

Mr Falls’s face was habitually inscrutable and naturally the back of his head was entirely so. Dikon was walking behind him and felt himself to be at a loss. He tried to keep his voice as colourless as Mr Falls’s own. ‘Quite so,’ he said. ‘But I tell myself that as a guilty person you might have shown more enthusiasm for Dr Ackrington’s theory. No murder, no murderer.’

‘Unbounded enthusiasm would hint at a lack of artistry, don’t you feel?’

‘The others exhibited it,’ said Dikon. Mr Falls gave a little chuckle. ‘Yes,’ he agreed, ‘their relief was almost tangible, wasn’t it? Now you, as the only one of the men with a really formidable alibi, were also the only man to exhibit scepticism.’

‘Mr Falls,’ said Dikon loudly, ‘what’s your idea? Do you think he’s dead?’

‘Yes.’

‘Murdered?’

‘Oh, yes. Rather. Don’t you?’