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to the club for a rubber at six.’
    “‘There’s no sign of any struggle,’ said the doctor.
    “‘No, there wouldn’t be. He was shot as he was riding along.’
    “I looked at the body for a little while. I couldn’t help thinking how short a time ago it was since Bronson, noisy and loud-voiced, had been so full of hearty life.
    “‘You haven’t forgotten that he had the coolies’ wages on him,’ said the doctor.
    “‘No, we’d better search him.’
    “‘Shall we turn him over?’
    “‘Wait a minute. Let us just have a look at the ground first.’
    “I took the lamp and as carefully as I could looked all about me. Just where he had fallen the sandy pathway was trodden and confused; there were our footprints and the footprints of the coolies who had found him. I walked two or three paces and then saw quite clearly the mark of his bicycle wheels; he had been riding straight and steadily. I followed it to the spot where he had fallen, to just before that, rather, and there saw very distinctly the prints on each side of the wheels of his heavy boots. He had evidently stopped there and put his feet to the ground, then he’d started off again, there was a great wobble of the wheel, and he’d crashed.
    “‘Now let’s search him,’ I said.
    “The doctor and the sergeant turned the body over and one of the coolies dragged the bicycle away. They laid Bronson on his back. I supposed he would have had the money partly in notes and partly in silver. The silver would have been in a bag attached to the bicycle and a glance told me that it was not there. The notes he would have put in a wallet. It would have been a good thick bundle. I felt him all over, but there was nothing; then I turned out the pockets, they were all empty except the right trouser pocket, in which there was a little small change.
    “‘Didn’t he always wear a watch?’ asked the doctor.
    “‘Yes, of course he did.’
    “I remembered that he wore the chain through the buttonhole in the lapel of his coat and the watch and some seals and things in his handkerchief pocket. But watch and chain were gone.
    “‘Well, there’s not much doubt now, is there?’ I said.
    “It was clear that he had been attacked by gang robbers who knew he had money on him. After killing him they had stripped him of everything. I suddenly remembered the footprints that proved that for a moment he had stood still. I saw exactly how it had been done. One of them had stopped him on some pretext and then, just as he started off again, another, slipping out of the jungle behind him, had emptied the two barrels of a gun into his head.
    “‘Well,’ I said to the doctor, ‘it’s up to me to catch them, and I’ll tell you what, it’ll be a real pleasure to me to see them hanged.’
    “Of course there was an inquest. Mrs Bronson gave evidence, but she had nothing to say that we didn’t know already. Bronson had left the bungalow about eleven, he was to have tiffin at Kabulong and was to be back between five and six. He asked her not to wait for him, he said he would just put the money in the safe and come straight to the club. Cartwright confirmed this. He had lunched alone with Mrs Bronson and after a smoke had gone out with a gun to shoot pigeon. He had got in about five, a little before perhaps, had a bath and changed to play tennis. He was shooting not far from the place where Bronson was killed, but never heard a shot. That, of course, meant nothing; what with the cicadas and the frogs and the other sounds of the jungle, he would have had to be very near to hear anything; and besides, Cartwright was probably back in the bungalow before Bronson was killed. We traced Bronson’s movements. He had lunched at the club, he had got money at the bank just before it closed, had gone back to the club and had one more drink, and then started off on his bicycle. He had crossed the river by the ferry; the ferryman remembered distinctly seeing him, but was positive that