fifteen minutes after six
The first was a tobacconist 's assistant at Exeter , who came forward and said a little , countrified man had bought two wooden pipes from him and a two-ounce packet of shag tobacco ; and he said the little man wore a billycock hat with a jay 's blue wing feather in it . And a barmaid at Newton Abbot testified that she 'd served just such a man at the station after the train from Exeter had come in , about five-thirty , and afore it went out . She minded the jay 's feather in his hat , because she 'd asked the customer what it was , and he 'd told her . And lastly a porter up at Moretonhampstead said that a small chap answering to the description had got out of the Newton train to Moreton , which arrived at Moreton at fifteen minutes after six . But he 'd marked no jay 's feather in the man 's hat and only just noticed him , being a stranger , as went out of the station with half a dozen other travellers and gave up his ticket with the rest . The tickets was checked , and sure enough , there were two from Exeter to Moreton ; but while Ernest could prove the jay 's feather to be in his uncle 's hat , neither he nor anybody else could give any reason why Joe should have gone to Moreton instead of coming home . He might have left the train for a drink at Newton , where there was time for him to do so ; but he would have gone back to it no doubt in the ordinary course .