'And the inquest?'
'Has been indefinitely postponed, sir. Captain Spurrier departed Dorchester at speed on Saturday for an unknown destination, directly after your own departure for Weymouth.'
Thoday, too, had drawn a blank. No one in Weymouth town had more than rumor to pass on about the deaths of the Captains Getchell. In fact, they had seemed reluctant to discuss the matter at all. More than one had suggested that Thoday apply to Sir Thomas Frobisher for information, but Sir Thomas was away.
' 'A-courting,' one of them told me, sir,' Thoday said. ' 'At his age.'
'The frog he would a-wooing go,' he added.
Hoare sighed. A block had been put in the way of his chase. He might as well face reality and return to duty.
'Our business here in Weymouth seems to be concluded for now,' he said. 'There is nothing to keep us here.
'You two, Rabbett and Thoday, return to Dorchester and keep the investigation moving from there. I shall accompany you in the chaise and continue on to Portsmouth… Find the missing evidence-the head, the two drivers, the Admiralty chaise. Surely the chaise, at least, can be traced. Learn of any strangers, especially any with foreign accents. Keep me informed.
'In fact, I shall need to be kept informed on a frequent, regular basis. But none of us can afford the time to travel between Dorchester and Portsmouth… So as to halve the time needed in travel, then,' he whispered, 'let us arrange regular meetings-weekly, say-at a point halfway between here… and Portsmouth. A place that we can reach easily by sea or by land.
'You, Thoday, can meet with Rabbett beforehand to collect whatever news he may have gathered, and bring the… consolidated information to-to where?'
He turned to Rabbett, whose knowledge of the land he was beginning to find invaluable.
'Christchurch, I'd suggest, sir,' the clerk said. 'As you know, 'tis well south of the direct way from Portsmouth, but 'tis on the coast. By land, I believe it a long day's ride from either direction, perhaps forty miles all told. And you would know better than I, sir, about access by sea.
'The Crown would be your best base there, sir.'
Hoare sighed again. Planning of this kind implied that the road to the solving of the two Captains' deaths would be a long one, and dreary.
Thoday had raised his eyebrows halfway through Hoare's orders, and they were still raised.
'You look dubious, Thoday. Spit it out, man.'
'The plan is less than satisfactory, sir,' he said. 'There may be times when a lack of progress makes it injudicious to waste any time whatsoever on travel, and there may, I would hope, be times when the need to confer is urgent.'
'True enough, Thoday,' Hoare said. 'But I can hardly change the geography of Britain to suit our convenience. Do you have a better proposal?' Mentally, he crossed his arms smugly and waited for the man to admit he did not.
'Hancock, sir. Yeoman of signals in Royal Duke, as I need not remind you. He gives me to understand that within a few days of their removal to a new location, weather permitting, his birds can be trained to return thence quite reliably. I think it requires several trips, each of which increases the distance they must travel. You could send Hancock here to Dorchester with a covey or flock, or batch, of them. He could train them to think of a local cote or pen or hutch as home, then return with them to Royal Duke. They can then be used to carry the news to us in Dorchester. And vice versa, of course, for messages to your ship.'
'Interesting,' Hoare whispered. 'I shall inquire of Hancock. Meanwhile, I shall leave you two behind me in Dorchester, as I originally planned.'
He ordered one of the inn's menservants to find the Admiralty's driver and tell him to prepare for their return to Portsmouth, via Dorchester. Hoare went upstairs, then, to pen a temporary farewell to Eleanor Graves.
Back in Dorchester, Hoare found Captain Spurrier, just returned from where ever he had gone in such secrecy and with such speed, all officious smiles.
'Come this way, if you will, sir,' he said to Hoare, taking him by the arm in a brotherly way. 'I have something to show you.'
Spurrier led Hoare to the mortuary where the two Captains' corpses lay. Thoday followed them, uninvited, while the curious Rabbett trailed behind.
'There,' he said, pointing.
Both bodies now had heads. Someone had carefully replaced the one that had gone adrift upon the shoulders where it belonged. It was much the worse for wear. The crows had taken its eyes, while they or other scavengers had enjoyed other easily accessible parts-ears and lips most noticeably. In both corpses, corruption had palpably advanced. Finding that an odor he might relish in connection with a properly hung grouse was less appealing in these circumstances, Rabbett made a smothered coughing noise and dashed for the door.
'Thank you, Mr. Spurrier,' Hoare said icily. 'You might wish to salt the remains down, pending the arrival of the dead men's next of kin.'
'You need not teach me my duty, Hoare,' Spurrier said.
'On the contrary, sir, I evidently do. You have much to learn.' Hoare turned on his heel.
Outside, Hoare instructed Thoday and Rabbett to remain in Dorchester as he had previously ordered. They could put up at the Mitre, if they wished, or arrange for other accommodations.
'There is a daily Admiralty post between Portsmouth and Plymouth, is there not?'
'Yes, sir,' Rabbett said. 'In fact, I myself, when at Admiralty House, am charged with receiving the post for us and placing our signals in the postboy's hands. When not occupied with other duties, that is, sir.'
'And would he not change mounts in Dorchester?' Hoare asked.
'Indeed, sir.' He consulted a large silver watch. 'In fact, the westward post should be stopping at the Mitre just about now, if he has not already departed.'
'Then, as soon as I arrive in Portsmouth, I shall arrange for the postboys to leave there any messages I may have for you. Do you likewise leave with the innkeeper a daily report to be delivered to the eastward-bound messenger, addressed to me.'
'A regular matter of that kind would soon come to the ears of others, sir,' Thoday objected. 'Instead, Rabbett's mother and father dwell on the highway just east of town. Their home is out of sight of here, and hence not under the eyes of prying strangers. His father, of course, is town clerk, so he must be at his desk in the town hall during the day, but his mother could receive and transmit our communications.'
Hoare looked at the clerk to seek his reaction.
'She'd be happy to, I know, Mr. Hoare,' he said. 'Life is quite quiet for her now, since I left home and can no longer entertain her by recounting my adventures when I come home of nights.'
'Very good, then. As soon as I arrive at Admiralty House, I shall arrange matters with… To whom do you delegate your duties, Rabbett, when you are absent from your post?'
Rabbett suppressed a snicker at Hoare's inadvertent play on words. 'Witherspoon, sir. Jabez Witherspoon. Tell him I sent you.'
'Be sure that I shall. Good-bye, then.'
Before Hoare could board the chaise, he remembered and stopped.
'By the by, Rabbett,' he said, 'while I have you in my power.'
Quickly he summarized the general concern about missing information, as epitomized by the lost word about those ciphers' being in French, which had irritated Sarah Taylor so.
'Are you aware of a lack of discretion on the part of any of your colleagues on the Admiral's staff?' he asked.
'Oh, no, sir!' Rabbett's reaction was one of shocked surprise. 'Never!'
'Well, when you return to your post from this vacation of yours, pray remember to keep a weather eye out.'
'Oh, yes, sir. I shall, you may be sure. I can…'
Rabbett's last words of reassurance were lost at the appearance of another vehicle coming down the street, a berlin. It drew up abreast of Hoare, and its occupant looked out the window, a lean, swarthy man, somberly dressed.
