cheese in his hand, and strolled to the spot
where the two gentlemen had been looking.
Brushing the leaves away, he found a small
penknife with the blade open and covered with
blood; a little further on, a pistol with hair
sticking to it, the pan down, and bloody; and
on the leaves were spots and gouts of blood.
About ten o'clock Mr. Nicholls, the surveyor,
came round to see the men's work, and
Herrington gave him the pistol and knife. About
noon the two gentlemen from Probert's drove
down the lane again in a gig with an iron-grey
horse. The tall man drove; it was the only
gig that passed that day. They both looked
hard at the spot near the maple-tree where
the knife and pistol had been found, but said
nothing.

That morning, when Probert got up, his wife
renewed her inquiries about the scenes of the
night before. He only replied:

"Don't torment me; you make my life
miserable." He seemed in low spirits all day, went
moping round the garden and about the pond;
then took his double-barrelled gun and went
out shooting. Bullmer, the gardener, thought
his master that day very "downy," as he was
generally a very cheerful gentleman. Before he
went out with his gun, he asked the gardener
if he were not ready for his dinner, and told him
it was two o'clock, as if anxious to get him
away.

At half-past four that afternoon, Probert, with
his gun and pointer, came over the hedge and
across the field near Shenley Hill, to John
Silver, landlord of the Black Lion public-house,
who was turning a dungheap. Silver saw he
was low, and seemed to have something on his
mind, and said to him:

"What the devil is the matter with you,
Probert?"

Probert said:

"I have had a long walk, shooting, and I have
had no sport. You had better come in and
make some brandy-and-water, and let me have
a crust of bread and cheese, and perhaps I
shall be better." As Probert ate and drank, he
fetched one or two heavy sighs.

That same morning, before Thurtell and Hunt
left Gill's Hill, Mrs. Probert had observed the
gig cushions drying at the kitchen fire, although
there had been no rain the day before. She
remarked upon this to her husband, but he
ridiculed her for her nonsensical fears. Soon
afterwards the cook, going into the stable, was
surprised to see a wet ripped-up sack hanging on
a nail.

On the Saturday, John Thurtell and Hunt
dined with Thomas Thurtell and Mr. Noyes,
Probert's brother-in-law, at the Coach and Horses,
in Conduit-street. Hunt asked Thomas
Thurtell, in a bragging way, to his surprise, if he
wanted change for fifty pounds? He was in
high spirits about his money, said he had been
shooting game, and that Probert held the bag.
On being questioned as to what they had been
doing, Hunt said laughingly:

"We Turpin lads can do the trick. We have
been committing bloody murder, to be sure."

John Thurtell was in very good spirits. His
brother, observing his hands scratched and cut,
asked the reason. To which John Thurtell
replied:

"Oh, Hunt, Probert, and I were out netting
partridges last night, and the bushes tore my
hands.''

After dinner, John Thurtell, pulling out a gold
watch, his brother asked him where he got it?
John replied that was no business of his.

Hunt said:

"What Turpin lads we are, John! Let's
have a bottle of wine. I can't drink anything
else now. My old woman (wife) was in a fine
rage last night because I stayed out all night;
but she was pleased when I pulled out the
money, and ordered two fowls and some pickled
pork."

On Sunday morning, Thomas Thurtell walked
out on the Kilburn-road, on his way to Mr.
Probert's, to see his little girls. Before he got
to Kilburn, John Thurtell and Hunt came by in
a gig, and took him up. About a mile from
Edgeware they overtook Mr. Noyes. John
Thurtell then got out and walked with him, and Hunt
and Thomas Thurtell drove on to Probert's. As
they drove past the garden fence, Hunt took
out a new spade, which lay at the bottom of
the gig half covered with a coat, and threw it
over the garden hedge. On being asked why he
did not take it round to the yard, Hunt
replied: "Don't you think I know what I am
after? Probert don't want his wife to know
he is extravagant." They brought down in the
gig with the spade a piece of beef and two
bottles of rum.

On the Sunday, after walking in the garden
and dining (Probert, it was noticed, had no
appetite), cards were produced, and the two
Thurtells, Hunt, and Noyes sat down to whist, while
Probert went to see Mr. Nicholls, the road-
surveyor, at Batler's Green, about letting his
cottage. The game was, however, never played
out; for John Thurtell said the cards ran cross,
and threw up his hand.

At six o'clock on the Sunday evening, Mr.
Howard, of 68, Hatton-garden, proprietor of the
Gill's Hill Cottage, called there by appointment,
and went with Probert to Mr. Nicholls.

Nicholls said at once to Probert:

"By-the-by, Probert, what the deuce was
going on down your lane the other night? I
suppose some of your people got groggy, and
one of them got behind a hedge and fired off a
gun to alarm the rest. I have done so myself
my younger days."

Probert replied he had not heard the report,
and did not know anything about it. Some one
then saying that Mr. Barker, who had just
bought the place of Major Wood, intended to
fill up the fish-pond (Probert seemed much
interested at this), Mr. Howard said:

"They had better drag the pond, as there
is a large quantity of fisli in it, that I put in
myself three years ago. Some of them weigh a
pound each."

Smith, the farmer, who was present, then
stated (Mr. Nicholls listening very attentively),