?This is a bad business, boy,? he said to Jerk, who was still gazing at the notice.
?You may well say that, sir,? replied the boy.
?Poor old Sennacherib,? sighed the cleric. ?To think that you went from my friend?s house to meet your death. Well,? he added hotly, shaking his fist across at the Marsh, ?let?s hope they catch the rascal, for we will give him short shrift for you, Sennacherib.?
?Aye, indeed, sir,? replied young Jerk, ?and let?s hope as how it?ll be the right ?un when they does.?
?The right what?? asked Doctor Syn.
?The right rascal,? said young Jerk, ?for that ain?t him.?
?What do you know about it, my lad?? said the Doctor.
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?The whole thing,? replied Jerk, ?for I seed the whole of the ugly business. I seed the man with the yellow face last night. I seed him a-comin? out of your front door with a weapon in his hand.?
?You saw that?? cried the cleric, his eyes shining with excitement. ?You could swear that in the Court House??
?I could do it anywhere,? replied Jerk, ?let alone the Court House, and what?s more, I could swear that he never killed Doctor Pepper.?
?How can you possibly say such a thing?? said Doctor Syn.
?Because I seed the whole thing done, as I keep tellin? you,? answered Jerk, ?and it wasn?t him as did it.?
?How do you know?? asked the Doctor hastily. ?Where were you??
?Out on the Marsh,? said Jerk, ?all night.?
?What!? ejaculated the vicar, looking at the boy doubtfully. ?Are you speaking the truth, my lad??
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?The solemn truth,? replied young Jerk.
?You were out on the Marsh all night?? repeated the astonished cleric. ?And pray, what were you doing there??
?Dogging that schoolmaster,? replied Jerk with conviction.
?Come into the vicarage,? said Doctor Syn, ?and tell me all about it.? And he led the boy into the house.
When he had finished his tale Doctor Syn took him into the kitchen and lit the fire, bidding him dry his wet clothes, for Jerk was still shivering with the cold of the dyke water. Then he boiled some milk in a saucepan and set it before him, with a cold game pie and a loaf of bread. Jerk made a hearty meal and felt better, his opinion of clergymen going up at a bound when he discovered that a strong dose of excellent ship?s rum had been mixed with the milk. ?Rum?s good stuff, my lad, on occasions,? he said cheerily, ?and I?ve a
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notion that it?ll drive the cold out of you,? and Jerry thought it a very sensible notion, too.
?And now look here, my lad,? the Doctor went on, when Jerry could eat no more, ?what you?ve seen may be true enough, though I tell you I can hardly credit it. It?s a good deal for a thinking man to swallow, you?ll allow, what with the devil riders and all that. Besides which I can see no earthly reason for the schoolmaster committing the crime. As yet I really don?t know what to say, my boy. I?m beat, I confess it. I must think things over for an hour or so. In the meantime I must strongly urge you to keep this adventure to yourself. It is very dangerous to make accusations that you have no means of proving, and certainly you can prove nothing, for there is nothing to go on but what you thought you saw. Well, a nightmare has upset better men than you before now, Jerry, and it is possible that your rich imagination may have supplied the whole thing. Go back then, to your house, and get a couple of hours? sleep, and then go to school
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as if nothing had happened. Then I?ll tell you what we?ll do, my lad: you come round here and we?ll have a bit of dinner together and talk of this again.?
?Thank you, sir,? said Jerk, very flattered at being asked to dine with the vicar. ?I consider that you?ve behaved very sensibly over this horrible affair, though where you get wrong, sir, is over my ?rich imagination?. That part ain?t true, sir. I knows what i seed, and I sees Rash stick Pepper twice under the arm with his pencil sharpener.?
But Doctor Syn dismissed him with further adjurations to hold his tongue, adding that the whole thing seemed most odd.
On the way back from the vicarage Jerk met the sailors returning to the Court House bearing the remains of Sennacherib Pepper upon the shutter. After his conversation with Doctor Syn he thought it best to keep out of sight, as he was not desirous of being questioned by the captain, and so, when they had passed, he slipped home and managed to get into bed before his grandparents
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were astir. After his goodly feast at the vicarage he found it difficult to eat his usual hearty breakfast, but he did his best, saying that the news of this horrible murder and the thought of the man with the yellow face who was wanted by the King?s men must have put him off his feed. And so his night?s adventure passed unheeded, for everybody was too busy discussing the murder and setting forth their individual opinions upon it to trouble themselves about any suspicious behaviour of ?Hangman Jerk.?
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schoolmaster, for when Jerry arrived at the schoolhouse he could see Mr. Rash already bending over his desk. Jerry, imagining that he had miscalculated the time, felt highly annoyed, fearing that he may have missed something worth seeing; but on entering the schoolroom he found that not one of his schoolfellows had arrived; consequently his entrance was the more marked. As a matter of fact, Jerk?s young colleagues were hanging about outside the Court House until the last possible moment, for there was much ado going forward, sailors on guard outside the door, people going in and coming out, and the gossips of the village discussing the foul murder of the unfortunate Sennacherib Pepper. Jerk went to his desk, sat down and waited, narrowly watching the schoolmaster, who was writing, keeping his face low to the desk. The boy thought that he would never look up, but after some ten minutes he did, and Jerk stared the murderer straight in the face.
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The schoolmaster bravely tried to return the stare, but failed, and then Jerk knew that he had in a measure failed also, failed in his trust to Doctor Syn, for in that glance Jerry has unconsciously told the malefactor what he knew. Presently Rash spoke without looking up: ?Where have those other rascals got to??
Promptly Jerk answered: ?If you?re addressing yourself to a rascal, you ain?t addressing yourself to me, and I scorns to reply; but if I?m mistook?well, I think you knows where they are as well as I do who ain?t no rascal, but a respectable potboy, and no scholard, thank God!?
?I don?t know where they are,? replied the schoolmaster, looking up. ?Be so good as to tell me, please, Jerk, and I?ll take this birch,? (and his voice rose high) ?and beat ?em all up to the schoolhouse, like a herd of pigs, I will!? Then conquering his emotion, he added: ?Please, Jerk, where are they??
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But Jerk was in no way softened, so placing his forefinger to the side of his nose and solemnly winking one eye, he said: ?I don?t know no more than you do, Mister, but if you does want me to guess I don?t mind putting six and six together and saying as how you?ll find ?em hanging about to get a glimpse of old Pepper?s grizzly corpse, wot was brought from the Marsh on a shutter.?
?I?ll teach them!? shrieked the schoolmaster, flourishing the birch and flying out of the door.
?That?s it!? added Jerk. ?You do, and I?ll teach you, too, my fine fellow, who rapped my head once, I?ll teach you and teach you till I teaches your head to wriggle snug inside a good rope?s noose.? And having thus given vent to his feelings, Jerk followed the schoolmaster to see the fun.
The crowd outside the Court House was quite large for Dymchurch. Everybody was there, and right in front enjoying the excitement gaped and peered the scholars of the school. But Rash elbowed his way through the throng
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and fell upon them like a sudden squall, using the terrible birch upon the youngsters? shoulders, quite regardless of the cries of ?Shame!? and ?Stop him!? from the villagers. But the onslaught of Rash came to a sudden conclusion, for the heavy hand of the captain?s bo?sun fell upon him and ordered him immediately inside the Court House. Jerk saw Rash turn the colour of a jellyfish, asserting wildly that there must be some mistake, and that having his duty to perform at the school he must beg to be excused.
?It?s my opinion,? replied the bo?sun in a hard voice, ?that them lads will get a holiday today. The inquiry is going forward about this murder, and I have orders to see that you attend.? So keeping his rough hand upon the teacher?s shoulder he led him, still protesting vehemently, inside the Court House, with the jeers and jibes of the scholars ringing in his ears.
Jerk had by now worked his way to the front of the crowd, and there he stood looking with wonder at the two great seamen who with drawn cutlasses
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were guarding the open door. Dymchurch was having the excitement of its life, and no mistake, and a holiday for the school, even the tragedy of Sennacherib Pepper?s death, was forgotten in the glory of that moment, and the hated schoolmaster had been publicly stopped thrashing the boys and had himself been ordered into the Court House.
?I wonder what for?? thought young Jerk. ?I wonder?? He would have given a lot to see inside the upper room, where the inquiry was now about to proceed. Presently the captain himself came out of the hall and stood for a moment on the gravel outside, looking at the crowd. Now there were sailors keeping the crowd back; never had there been such formal times in Dymchurch. The captain glanced at the little knot of schoolboys with their satchels, and suddenly catching sight of Jerk, called out: ?Hie you! you?re the potboy of the Ship Inn, ain?t you? Well, I want you. Step this way!? So his wish was granted, and
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followed by the wonder and admiration of the crowd, Jerry Jerk, potboy of the Ship, strutted after the King?s captain into the Court House.
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Up the old stairway to the courtroom Jerk followed the captain, wondering why he had been called, what the captain knew about last night, and whatever Doctor Syn would advise him to say if he were questioned. These were nutty problems for Jerry?s young teeth to crack, and though somewhat nervous in consequence, he was on the whole highly delighted at seeing the fun. The procedure of the inquiry was evidently biding the captain?s presence, for as soon as he had taken his seat at the high table the squire rose and in a
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few well-chosen words announced the inquiry to be set and open. The captain seemed to have forgotten the presence of Jerk, who was left standing in the doorway surveying the august company. There was an attorney-at-law and a doctor of medicine from Hythe, an attorney from Romney and a doctor from Romney. At the high table these four gentlemen sat facing the squire, who was in the centre, with Doctor Syn upon his right. On his left was the chair just occupied by the captain, and on fixed oak benches round the room sat the leading lights of Dymchurch: the head preventive officer, three or four well-todo farmers, two owners of fishing luggers, Denis Cobtree, Mrs. Waggetts, and the schoolmaster, besides two or three other villagers. Nobody took much notice of Jerk when he came in, for all eyes were on the captain, but Doctor Syn not only took notice but the trouble to point out an empty space on one of the benches.
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?Are all those summoned for the inquiry present?? asked the captain, looking round at the assemblage.
?All but Mr. Mipps,? said the squire, referring to a list of names before him. ?While we were waiting for you, he took the opportunity of viewing the body next door.?
The captain signed to one of the two sailors who were guarding the door of the adjoining room, and he accordingly summoned the undertaker, who with an eye to business was measuring the corpse. Jerk caught a glimpse of this as the door opened, and of the form of Sennacherib Pepper lying on a table. The undertaker, with a footrule in his hands, took his place on one of the benches. Mipps?s entrance seemed to revive the tragedy of the whole business, for there was a pause pending the squire?s opening speech; but the captain was the first to speak. He arose and to the astonishment of everybody took up and lit a pipe which had been lying on the table in front of him.
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?Sir Antony Cobtree and gentlemen,? he said in his great husky sea voice, as he drew the smoke deliberately through the long clay stem and volleyed it back from his set mouth in blue battle clouds across the table, ?we have met here to discuss, as Sir Antony Cobtree has already said better than I ever could, the sad and sudden death of Doctor Sennacherib Pepper, killed violently last night on Romney Marsh. The form of this inquiry I leave to the lawyers whose business it is, but before they get busy I?ve got a few things bottled up that I must and will say. I don?t possess the knack of a crafty tongue myself, I?ve the reputation among my colleagues of being the most tactless man in the service; but I?ve also a reputation as a fighter, and when I do fight, it?s a hard fight?a straightforward, open fight. So what I?ve got to say will like enough cause offence to every man in this room from Sir Antony Cobtree downward. I?m no good at strategy; as I say, I fight open; and when I think things?well, I can?t bottle them up; I say ?em out bluntly at the risk of offence. So here it is: I don?t
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like this business?this Doctor Pepper business?? The captain here paused to roll a large volume of smoke across the room.
The squire took advantage of the pause and said: ?If that?s all it is, Captain, come now?which of us do??
The captain thought a moment and added: ?If the party or parties who committed the crime didn?t like it, why, in thunder?s name, did they do it??
?You should know that better than we do,? returned the squire hotly, ?for that the murderer was under your employment is fairly obvious.?
?You are referring to the mulatto seaman,? said the captain. ?In the first place, I consider that you should have asked my permission before you issued that public notice affixed to the church door. Until the mulatto is found and can be examined, I deny your right or any man?s right to brand him as a murderer.?