The Cask · Chapter
II: Inspector Burnley on the Track explained
Inspector Burnley interviews the foreman Harkness and clerk Broughton about the cask, examines the forged letter from Felix, and investigates the Bullfinch.
What happens
Inspector Burnley interviews the foreman Harkness and clerk Broughton about the cask, examines the forged letter from Felix, and investigates the Bullfinch. He questions the crew and reviews shipping papers, concluding the cask likely contains a body. He receives two messages tracking the cask's movement north-west, then is called back to Scotland Yard.
Themes in this chapter
Deception and Appearance
The forged letter and altered label suggest deliberate deception about the cask's contents and origin.
Crime and Investigation
Burnley systematically interviews witnesses, examines documents, and traces the cask's movement.
Characters to notice
- Inspector Burnley
Leads the investigation, interviews witnesses, examines evidence, and traces the cask's route.
- Mr. Harkness
Foreman who discovered the cask and describes the forged letter from Felix.
- Mr. Broughton
Clerk who accompanied Harkness and provides details about the label and the forged letter.
- Mr. Avery
Managing director of the shipping company; meets Burnley at the docks and provides the empty envelope clue.
- Mr. Huston
Quay office manager who shows Burnley the shipping papers for the cask.
- Captain M'Nabb
Captain of the Bullfinch; confirms the cask could not have been tampered with aboard.
Key passages
“I ran down one street first, an’ then down the other, an’ then I went back into the bar, but never a sight of ’im did I get.”
Harkness searched nearby streets and the pub but could not find the black-bearded man.
Harkness describes losing track of the man who took the cask.
“It was a card about six inches long by four high, fastened on by tacks all round the edge.”
The label was a card attached with tacks, with a cut-out section for the address.
Broughton describes the unusual label on the cask.
“I thought perhaps Dupierre’s people had temporarily run out of labels and were making an old one do again.”
Broughton suggests the label was reused due to a shortage.
Broughton offers an innocent explanation for the altered label.