“True again, sir! And he’s ever at Oxham’s beck and call, moreover.”
“One other surmise, Bob.... During the struggle Jonas Skag’s pocket was torn, and out o’ that pocket fell a horn snuff-box——”
“Why, your honour, here’s a powerful lot o’ surmises! ’Tis all mighty reasonable, but ye can’t convict a man nor yet hang a man by surmise.”
“Very true, Bob. And here is the snuff-box!”
Corporal Robert examined the sorry thing with a degree of interest.
“But how,” he inquired, handing it back again, “how can your honour be sure ’twas the same box, or that Skag ever saw it, or lost it on the fatal oc-casion?”
“Jonas Skag recognised it, Bob, and in his terror crawled away to Sturton.”
“Lord!” exclaimed the Corporal, “so this was why they rid off in such a hurry?”
“Partly, Bob, and partly, I think, to afford us proof that our surmising is very near the truth.”
“As how, your honour?”