could have died around eight.â
âWho found him?â
âFarmer going through the cut, about six on Wednesday morning.â
âNobody miss him before that?â
âYes, but lots of things can keep a trooper from coming home. Car trouble, accidents. They donât always report in. Use their judgment.â
âBoth he and Pottle were on this beat?â
âYes, but Pottle was doing night work. He got shifted to day duty after Trainor was killed.â
âHe seems to have been on day duty last Tuesday afternoon. You said he came down here to warn the gypsies about nightshade carriers.â
âHe got routed out to help search for Sarah Beasley.â
âWhy did Trainor come down as far as this, instead of using the upper road?â
âJust patrolling the routes, I suppose; or giving the gypsies a look-in.â
âDo they say he gave them a look-in, or havenât you asked them?â
âThey say he didnât; but they wouldnât own up to seeing him last thing before he got killed in the short cut.â
âVery annoying, they must be. Here comes Pottle; letâs wait for him.â
Officer Pottle rode up, and stopped beside the car. âGlad to see you back, Mr. Gamadge,â he said. âDid you hear about Trainor?â
âYes, and Iâm awfully sorry. Mitchell thinks he may have ridden down on Tuesday evening to look in on the gypsies.â
âHe may have. We kind of get them on our minds, after their men go back to Boston; there are children in the camp. These gyps ainât afraid of anything on earth except jail and their own menfolks, but we like to keep an eye on âem.â
âHe was late getting back to headquarters, Mitchell says; you didnât wait for him?â
âNo, I started off as soon as I had my supperâwent to Beasleyâs by the upper road.â
âWhoâs taking his shift now?â
âBowles.â
âQueer, about Trainor getting killed that way in the short cut. He must have been well enough used to it.â
âI wish somebodyâd explain to me how it did happen. Last thing I would have expected, for Trainor to fall off his bike. He could loop the loops on it.â
âThereâs always a last time, if you fellers will take chances,â said Mitchell, irritably. âIs the whole family in camp today?â
âAll there. I guess theyâll be glad to get rid of the old lady; she rules the roost, all right. Sheâs goinâ back to Whitewater, Monday. Thinks sheâll take the little sick feller with her, cure him up at the shore.â
âI understand that she has delusions of grandeur,â said Gamadge.
âYou bet she has.â
âDo you know these gypsies at all well, Pottle? Understand their mental processes, that sort of thing?â
âThey havenât got any mental processes; I told Charlie Haines he was a fool to marry that girl Martha; but some fellers donât seem to want their wives brainy.â
âDo you think they might make some kind of mistake about a thing like this nightshade? Mix it up with some other kind of berry?â
âNo, I donât. I bet they know all the poisons in these woods, and a few more.â
âEven the children?â
âI bet Marthaâs baby would have the colic if anybody showed it a poison berry of any kind. Donât forget they make their livinââif you can call it a livinââout of these woods and swamps; that sweet grass they make their baskets of, and all the rest of it. And the kids pick berries for sale before theyâre hardly able to talk.â
âAccording to your ideas, they canât very well be responsible for this nightshade business, then.â
âI donât know if they are or not; but if I had any say about it I wouldnât run Charlie Hainesâ wife and baby out of town without any more proof against âem