A week passed. The Lamberts showed no sign of missing their animal. They had probably forgotten about it even before it was rescued from them, judging by its sorry state when it arrived at the Newlyns’. It was all mangy and bony, and its ribs stuck out so much that it looked as if it had swallowed a rowing boat. Or were they keeping quiet about the animal’s disappearance because if they admitted it was lost they might also have to admit their crime? This was no doubt the case. There was more to do to make the Lamberts reveal what had gone on that night.

A mysterious message reached the Lamberts. The barely legible scrawl took some time to decipher, but eventually it became clear that the illiterates had somehow managed to dredge up enough words from their limited vocabulary to cobble together some sort of ransom note, albeit it had taken them the best part of a fortnight. Thirty shillings was the unrealistic sum demanded. Alternatively, the Lamberts could have their goat back in return for disclosing the full true story of the mangled hollyhocks, ‘but Be Ye Warnd We noes who be the REEL CRIMMINELS’. Failure to comply would mean even longer without the goat, and prolonged failure would mean the lack of the goat would become permanent, although the threat was not expressed in such delicate terms. Would a self-respecting family such as the Lamberts give in to such turpitude? Never! The letter was placed carefully in a drawer.

There were several possible reasons why the Lamberts had not replied to the ransom note. The most likely was that they did not have the money and did not want to admit the truth about the hollyhocks. For justice to be done they had to be made to react. The Newlyns had a serious talk and decided to send a new ransom note with much harsher terms. The Lamberts would have only themselves to blame if they did nothing about it.