I + 

Cataraqui County extending from the northernmost line of the village known as Three Mile Bay on the south to the Canadian border, on the north a distance of fifty miles. And from Senaschet and Indian Lakes on the east to the Rock and Scarf Rivers on the westвБ†вАФa width of thirty miles. Its greater portion covered by uninhabited forests and lakes, yet dotted here and there with such villages and hamlets as Koontz, Grass Lake, North Wallace, Brown Lake, with Bridgeburg, the county seat, numbering no less than two thousand souls of the fifteen thousand in the entire county. And the central square of the town occupied by the old and yet not ungraceful county courthouse, a cupola with a clock and some pigeons surmounting it, the four principal business streets of the small town facing it. + 

In the office of the County Coroner in the northeast corner of the building on Friday, July ninth, one Fred Heit, coroner, a large and broad-shouldered individual with a set of gray-brown whiskers such as might have graced a Mormon elder. His face was large and his hands and his feet also. And his girth was proportionate. + 

At the time that this presentation begins, about two-thirty in the afternoon, he was lethargically turning the leaves of a mail-order catalogue for which his wife had asked him to write. And while deciphering from its pages the price of shoes, jackets, hats, and caps for his five omnivorous children, a greatcoat for himself of soothing proportions, high collar, broad belt, large, impressive buttons chancing to take his eye, he had paused to consider regretfully that the family budget of three thousand dollars a year would never permit of so great luxury this coming winter, particularly since his wife, Ella, had had her mind upon a fur coat for at least three winters past. + 

However his thoughts might have eventuated on this occasion, they were interrupted by the whirr of a telephone bell. + 

вАЬYes, this is Mr.¬†Heit speakingвБ†вАФWallace Upham of Big Bittern. Why, yes, go on, WallaceвБ†вАФyoung couple drownedвБ†вАФall right, just wait a minuteвБ†вАФвАЭ + 

He turned to the politically active youth who drew a salary from the county under the listing of вАЬsecretary to the coronerвАЭвБ†вАФвАЬGet these points, Earl.вАЭ Then into the telephone: вАЬAll right, Wallace, now give me all the factsвБ†вАФeverythingвБ†вАФyes. The body of the wife found but not that of the husbandвБ†вАФyesвБ†вАФa boat upset on the south shoreвБ†вАФyesвБ†вАФstraw hat without any liningвБ†вАФyesвБ†вАФsome marks about her mouth and eyeвБ†вАФher coat and hat at the innвБ†вАФyesвБ†вАФa letter in one of the pockets of the coatвБ†вАФaddressed to who?вБ†вАФMrs.¬†Titus Alden, Biltz, Mimico CountyвБ†вАФyesвБ†вАФstill dragging for the manвАЩs body, are they?вБ†вАФyesвБ†вАФno trace of him yetвБ†вАФI see. All right, WallaceвБ†вАФWellвБ†вАФIвАЩll tell you, Wallace, have them leave the coat and hat just where they are. Let me seeвБ†вАФitвАЩs two-thirty now. IвАЩll be up on the four oвАЩclock. The bus from the inn there meets that, doesnвАЩt it? Well, IвАЩll be over on that, sureвБ†вАФAnd, Wallace, I wish youвАЩd write down the names of all present who saw the body brought up. What was that?вБ†вАФeighteen feet of water at least?вБ†вАФyesвБ†вАФa veil caught in one of the rowlocksвБ†вАФyesвБ†вАФa brown veilвБ†вАФyesвБ†вАФsure, thatвАЩs allвБ†вАФWell, then have them leave everything just as found, Wallace, and IвАЩll be right up. Yes, Wallace, thank youвБ†вАФGoodbye.вАЭ + 

Slowly Mr.¬†Heit restored the receiver to the hook and as slowly arose from the capacious walnut-hued chair in which he sat, stroking his heavy whiskers, while he eyed Earl Newcomb, combination typist, record clerk, and whatnot. + 

вАЬYou got all that down, did you, Earl?вАЭ + 

вАЬYes, sir.вАЭ + 

вАЬWell, you better get your hat and coat and come along with me. WeвАЩll have to catch that 3:10. You can fill in a few subpoenas on the train. I should say you better take fifteen or twentyвБ†вАФto be on the safe side, and take the names of such witnesses as we can find on the spot. And you better call up Mrs.¬†Heit and say вАЩtaint likely IвАЩll be home for dinner tonight or much before the down train. We may have to stay up there until tomorrow. You never can tell in these cases how theyвАЩre going to turn out and itвАЩs best to be on the safe side.вАЭ + 

Heit turned to a coatroom in one corner of the musty old room and extracted a large, soft-brimmed, straw hat, the downward curving edges of which seemed to heighten the really bland and yet ogreish effect of his protruding eyes and voluminous whiskers, and having thus equipped himself, said: вАЬIвАЩm just going in the sheriffвАЩs office a minute, Earl. YouвАЩd better call up the Republican and the Democrat and tell вАЩem about this, so they wonвАЩt think weвАЩre slightinвАЩ вАЩem. Then IвАЩll meet you down at the station.вАЭ And he lumbered out. + 

And Earl Newcomb, a tall, slender, shock-headed young man of perhaps nineteen, and of a very serious, if at times befuddled, manner, at once seized a sheaf of subpoenas, and while stuffing these in his pocket, sought to get Mrs.¬†Heit on the telephone. And then, after explaining to the newspapers about a reported double drowning at Big Bittern, he seized his own blue-banded straw hat, some two sizes too large for him, and hurried down the hall, only to encounter, opposite the wide-open office door of the district attorney, Zillah Saunders, spinster and solitary stenographer to the locally somewhat famous and mercurial Orville W. Mason, district attorney. She was on her way to the auditorвАЩs office, but being struck by the preoccupation and haste of Mr.¬†Newcomb, usually so much more deliberate, she now called: вАЬHello, Earl. WhatвАЩs the rush? Where you going so fast?вАЭ + 

вАЬDouble drowning up at Big Bittern, we hear. Maybe something worse. Mr.¬†HeitвАЩs going up and IвАЩm going along. We have to make that 3:10.вАЭ + 

вАЬWho said so? Is it anyone from here?вАЭ + 

вАЬDonвАЩt know yet, but donвАЩt think so. There was a letter in the girlвАЩs pocket addressed to someone in Biltz, Mimico County, a Mrs.¬†Alden. IвАЩll tell you when we get back or IвАЩll telephone you.вАЭ + 

вАЬMy goodness, if itвАЩs a crime, Mr.¬†MasonвАЩll be interested, wonвАЩt he?вАЭ + 

вАЬSure, IвАЩll telephone him, or Mr.¬†Heit will. If you see Bud Parker or Karel Badnell, tell вАЩem I had to go out of town, and call up my mother for me, will you, Zillah, and tell her, too. IвАЩm afraid I wonвАЩt have time.вАЭ + 

вАЬSure I will, Earl.вАЭ + 

вАЬThanks.вАЭ + 

And, highly interested by this latest development in the ordinary humdrum life of his chief, he skipped gayly and even eagerly down the south steps of the Cataraqui County Courthouse, while Miss Saunders, knowing that her own chief was off on some business connected with the approaching County Republican Convention, and there being no one else in his office with whom she could communicate at this time, went on to the auditorвАЩs office, where it was possible to retail to any who might be assembled there, all that she had gathered concerning this seemingly important lake tragedy. + 