ortunate man had worn round his neck, did not
present the usual appearance, but was much loosened, and the knot
displaced and dragged extremely tight; the folds were also compressed, as
if it had been used as a means of grappling the deceased, and dragging
him perhaps to the precipice.

On the other hand, poor Kennedy's purse was found untouched; and, what
seemed yet more extraordinary, the pistols which he usually carried when
about to encounter any hazardous adventure were found in his pockets
loaded. This appeared particularly strange, for he was known and dreaded
by the contraband traders as a man equally fearless and dexterous in the
use of his weapons, of which he had given many signal proofs. The Sheriff
inquired whether Kennedy was not in the practice of carrying any other
arms? Most of Mr. Bertram's servants recollected that he generally had a
couteau de chasse, or short hanger, but none such was found upon the dead
body; nor could those who had seen him on the morning of the fatal day
take it upon them to assert whether he then carried that weapon or not.

The corpse afforded no other indicia respecting the fate of Kennedy; for,
though the clothes were much displaced and the limbs dreadfully
fractured, the one seemed the probable, the other the certain,
consequences of such a fall. The hands of the deceased were clenched
fast, and full of turf and earth; but this also seemed equivocal.

The magistrate then proceeded to the place where the corpse was first
discovered, and made those who had found it give, upon the spot, a
particular and detailed account of the manner in which it was lying. A
large fragment of the rock appeared to have accompanied, or followed, the
fall of the victim from the cliff above. It was of so solid and compact a
substance that it had fallen without any great diminution by splintering;
so that the Sheriff was enabled, first, to estimate the weight by
measurement, and then to calculate, from the appearance of the fragment,
what portion of it had been bedded into the cliff from which it had
descended. This was easily detected by the raw appearance of the stone
where it had not been exposed to the atmosphere. They then ascended the
cliff, and surveyed the place from whence the stony fragment had fallen.
It seemed plain, from the appearance of the bed, that the mere weight of
one man standing upon the projecting part of the fragment, supposing it
in its original situation, could not have de