Dear C.,
Another fortnight has passed and still I find myself here in the woods; chasing what seems to be a phantom but what I know is of flesh and blood.
How Dr. Edgcumbe continues to elude me I can not fathom, but no matter, as I will continue my pursuit of him into the depths of hell if I must, to take back the -----------------passage missing-------------------- he has done!
Alas, having finally discovered Dr. Edgcumbe's whereabouts and ------------passage missing-------------
Afterward, I had no choice but to give chase on horseback and follow Dr. Edgcumbe's wagon deeper down the path unknown. It was at this moment that the first peculiar thing occured. Dr. Edgcumbe sounded a high-pitched scream and abruptly swerved off the path and to the left! A moment later, I too let out a scream most singular and swerved, while just in front of me there stood a giant turtle, twice the size of a man with it's mouth gaping open!
------------------ passage missing ----------------- continuing my pursuit. It was at this point, having the Dr. within grasp and the taste of vengeance upon my lips that --------------passage missing---------------------------------------- and I could only watch in disbelief as he rode straight into the hollow of a tree and vanished.
• • •
Upon close scrutiny of the hollow itself, I found only his personal effects and no trace of Dr. Edgcumbe himself. It was at this time that I produced a small cache from my saddlebag and deposited his effects therein.
The cache is the only evidence of the strange events that occured this night and it is my intention that you will find it upon arriving to investigate Dr. Edgcumbe's "disappearance."
By now, surely you think I'm mad, for I would no doubt think the same in your position. However, if on your course you happen to lay eyes on a giant turtle or lay hands on the cache I have left for you in the hollow, perhaps you will be of a different opinion.
Yours,
S.
October 31