Five-minute Mysteries 2. Ken Weber

village starved, but had done a bit better than most at first because one of the old women had convinced everyone early on to capture and breed the rats that seemed to multiply in times like these.

      But when spring came, so did the Burgundians, determined to wreak bloody vengeance for having been kicked out of Flanders some decades before. The only good part was that they, too, and even the bandits, were having trouble finding food. Only yesterday, just in time to hide, Tyl’s keen-eyed wife had spotted a troop on its way back to Burgundy, tired and bedraggled, the horses’ ribs showing clearly through their skin.

      A low roll of thunder brought Tyl back to the present, reminding him that even a ruined shelter would be better than a hollow tree for what was soon to come. He raised himself once more to look at the mill. Nothing had changed. On his hands and knees he backed away from the brush to collect his family. He looked at the sky. Although they needed to move carefully and keep to the trees alongside the stream, he calculated they would still have time to get to the mill before the storm hit.

      ?

      Tyl has decided there is no one in the mill. What has led him to this conclusion?

       Click here for the solution

      6

      Mule Train

      REPORT OF DISCIPLINARY ACTION

      Against: Trooper Zebulon Pike Hampton, 3rd Platoon, A Company, B Troop, 5th Cavalry

      By: Major Elliott Morton, OC, B Troop

      Charge: Neglect of duty

      Date(s) of Offense: July 9, 1911

      Date of Action: July 12, 1911

      Action Taken: Thirty (30) days stockade, immediate

      Description of Offense:

      From July 2–10, 1911, A Company of B Troop was assigned to make extended patrols west of Flagstaff, Arizona Territory, in the area of three known smuggling routes (see Objective(s) of Unit). 3rd Platoon was given picket duty for the night of July 8/9, with Tpr. Hampton assigned to the most distant post from midnight to first light. Tpr. Hampton failed to report a train of 20 to 25 mules that passed his post during this time.

      Objective(s) of Unit When Offense Occurred:

      Effective February 28, 1911, and continuing as of this date, B Troop is posted to northern Arizona Territory, Sedona/Flagstaff/Kingman area, to interdict smuggling of gold, copper, etc.

      Facts Supporting Charge:

      (by Maj. Morton)

      Tpr. Hampton was posted at the edge of a narrow ravine c. 0.5 mi. in length, and c. 100 ft. across at the widest point and c. 40 ft. at the narrowest. At no point is the ravine more than 20 ft. deep. The floor of the ravine is a mix of rock and sand, with a streambed that on July 8/9 was dry. The area above is thickly forested on both sides, so that to travel south with pack animals it is necessary to go through the ravine or detour some 30 mi. west.

      The floor of the ravine was patrolled on July 8, and no evidence of recent activity was found. At first light on July 9, company scouts found clear evidence that a train of pack animals (mules) – approximately 20 to 25 animals, with at least four (possibly five) drivers – had passed through the ravine with hooves wrapped (likely in burlap) during the night while Tpr. Hampton was on picket duty. This evidence is verified and attested to by Capt. McNair of Company A (and Lts. Pocock and Nepp).

      According to procedure, Company A was given a list of pack trains scheduled by the mines for passage through the area during the time of the extended patrol. None were scheduled for July 8/9, and none of the mines subsequently dispatched an unscheduled train on this date. These, in any case, would travel in daylight. The unreported pack train indicated in this charge, therefore, was illicit.

      Mitigating Circumstances:

      (from oral deposition of Tpr. Hampton, as recorded by Maj. Morton. Tpr. Hampton is non-literate.)

      Brisbois (Tpr. Brisbois, 3rd Platoon) was supposed to be on picket with me. There’s always supposed to be two. But after about half an hour or so, he got sick and went to the cook tent and never come back. Nobody else come, neither, so I was alone.

      It was pitch black that night and muggy. No moon, no stars. Couldn’t see your hand in front of your face. Only a bit of wind, but it don’t take much to make noise when it blows through all the trees, so you really couldn’t hear nothing no matter how hard you tried. And anybody knows that if you work mules long and hard they generally won’t make no braying sounds. Not like horses.

      All I know is, if that pack train come through like they say, nobody could of known it.

      Comment(s):

      It is the conclusion of this officer that Tpr. Hampton either fell asleep at his post or abandoned it for a period. It is even possible, although there is no evidence, that he accepted a bribe. In any case, an alert trooper, at his post, in the conditions described above, would unquestionably have become aware of the passing of a mule train.

      Major Elliott Morton, OC, B Troop

      ?

      Major Morton knows there is something that would certainly have alerted the trooper to the passing of the mule train had he been alert and at his post. What is that?

       Click here for the solution

      7

      Why Granny Doesn't Retire

      Sometimes, at the end of a long day, Alice would agree that maybe her kids had a point, that maybe she should quit. Certainly she didn’t need the money; Morty had left her with a portfolio that did a lot more than keep the wolf from the door. And she had to admit that all the traveling kept her away from the grandkids more than she liked.

      Still, there were so many reasons to keep going. Like pride. She knew her children avoided telling their friends what she did – after all, how many seventy-two-year-olds make a living as a private eye? But the grandkids, they thought it was cool. She loved the look in their eyes when they showed off Granny Alice to their friends. And the truth is, every time she got close to the idea of packing it in, something would make her dig in her heels. Like that young snot at the attorney-general’s department who wasn’t going to renew her P.I. license because of her age. She’d put him in his place, because she knew the regulations said nothing about age limits.

      Then there was the whole boredom thing. Alice had never been a back porch type to begin with. She couldn’t sing, hated cruises, and sure wasn’t going to be another blue-hair parked in front of the slots at Vegas. Morty always said she had a brown thumb, so gardening was out, and both bridge and golf she found dull. The action part was okay with those two, but for each minute of action, everybody spent another twenty prattling on about it.

      All other reasons aside, however, the bottom line for Alice was that she was very good at what she did. And being a granny gave her an edge. Take the case she was working on right now, the missing lady from California. From the interview this morning with the Mackilroy woman, Alice knew she’d found her. Well, maybe not in flesh and blood, but it was obvious this Torrey