"I stumbled once myself, and pitched on my head too, while running up.

Them roots do stick out all about the place.

Stumbled against the root of a tree and fell, and that thing he was carrying must have gone off right under his chest, I expect." The echo of the words "Person unknown" repeating itself in his inner consciousness bothered the Chief Inspector considerably.

He would have liked to trace this affair back to its mysterious origin for his own information.

He was professionally curious.