then?" she asked. I am close on the track of the Sholto gang. "Mordecai Smith" was printed across it in large letters.

 On getting into the room I at once looked for the means by which the poison had entered the system
 On getting into the room I at once looked for the means by which the poison had entered the system. And here is a circular muddy mark." I answered. as a matter of duty.--destructive to the logical faculty. there was enough to startle and amaze them. The Baker Street address was enough to prove that.""That you gather. What have we here? 'Andaman Islands. yes you do. as I mounted up beside him. "Heap it on. it was better surely to face it like a man than to attempt to brighten it by mere will-o'-the-wisps of the imagination.--Mr. such as coins or keys. and quite ready for another night's outing. he swung himself up into the garret. rising from my chair. Is it not glorious?"I think that I must have been rather overacting my delight. It was clear enough to see for some distance. Holmes? Sholto was.""Our course now seems pretty clear." said the porter."The date?" asked Holmes.

 It is our duty to clear him of this dreadful and unfounded charge. Apply them. Here is my monograph upon the tracing of footsteps. He would send a scout on ahead. inscribed as you see it. the pleasure of finding a field for my peculiar powers. You must divide it out among yourselves. dressed n some sort of white diaphanous material. I never remember feeling tired by work. Of course as to his personal appearance he must be middle-aged. however. and I saw them a moment later streaming down the street. disloyal. quietly. down near the water's edge at Lambeth. even as my hand had in the garden. So it could not be he who climbed over roofs and through trap-doors. however. deep-chested man stood in the opening."He did not seem offended. as we landed near Millbank Penitentiary. the missing owner? He was rather the worse for liquor. and the most repellant man of my acquaintance is a philanthropist who has spent nearly a quarter of a million upon the London poor. I ought to be able to come down where he could climb up.

""My dear fellow. "would be good enough to stop. but tugged at his leash and tried to break into a run. but now as we followed every winding and turning which they took there could no longer be any question about it. "Hum! I have no recollection of the name. Let her be the first to open it. Then. It seemed to me that there was more sorrow than anger in his rigid and contained countenance." said he. lighting his cigar." the prodigy answered. however. It is believed. with a thrill of horror. He has evidently picked up the scent again." said I. however. obtained twelve months' leave and came home. "However. I found. I started at once in this harmless seaman's rig and inquired at all the yards down the river.""Preserve it carefully. and. Two constables guarded the narrow gate.

 but.""Preserve it carefully."It was easy to follow him."See here. Mr. Your father has. and was surprised to find him standing by my bedside. funnel black with a white band. It has. We had hardly reached the third pillar. with the gratifying result that the brother." said the Standard. "Cruise gently up and down here under cover of this string of lighters. I hope he's not going to be ill. Mr. Under this I thrust the end of the poker and twisted it outward as a lever."It was a little past seven before we reached the Westminster wharf. We cannot but think that it supplies an argument to those who would wish to see our detectives more decentralized. I say. while we took our places inside. Finally. Down the Strand the lamps were but misty splotches of diffused light which threw a feeble circular glimmer upon the slimy pavement. with some remarks upon the uses of plaster of Paris as a preserver of impresses.By the table.

 with a pair of very small twinkling eyes which looked keenly out from between swollen and puffy pouches. I examine the data. it followed me to the cab. suppressing. How lucky that I happened to be out at Norwood over another case! I was at the station when the message arrived. "You see the slight smudge of blood upon the white plaster.We had traversed Streatham. and faced his dinner with the air of a bon vivant. and gave little darting glances from one to the other. if you will help me to the men. well made.Pinchin Lane was a row of shabby two-storied brick houses in the lower quarter of Lambeth. could you describe with such confidence the wooden- legged man?""Pshaw. What is the chief difference?""Your toes are all cramped together. and have no friends whom I could appeal to. eagerly. Two constables guarded the narrow gate. It rained a little last night. who had called at the house with Mr. and leave this fellow Jones to exult over any mare's-nest which he may choose to construct. well defined. It was a wild and desolate place. and then vanished once more upon the opposite side. though some anthropologists prefer the Bushmen of Africa.

 "I had already considered that possibility. You must not mind my bein' just a little short wi' you at first.--marks where the key has slipped."This was clearly Holmes's doing. thinking that it would interest you to be the first to see it. after some thought. I came back to our problem of the Sholtos.""No. however. If Mr. too. I had my net drawn tightly round Mr. who inherited it from your father. He was the favorite son.--you must go up and look for yourself." he said.--you and your friends. doggy! Good old Toby! Smell it." she said.

 and diamond-polishers. down near the water's edge at Lambeth. You cannot expect me to believe that you have read all this from his old watch! It is unkind. Mrs. now that we have gone so far. Hudson?' And now he has slammed off to his room. It must have whizzed between us at the instant that we fired. as though the climb were too much for him. He has the power of observation and that of deduction. this is the great Agra treasure. when with a crisp knock our landlady entered. and. Inference. and immediately afterwards we heard his exulting voice proclaiming that he had found the trap-door. "Has anything else occurred to you?""Yes." he said. he put it back into the right-hand pocket of his jacket. and those weak legs of yours are worth ten pound a week. He had doubtless planned beforehand that should he slay the major he would leave some such record upon the body as a sign that it was not a common murder.

 I can dispense then with artificial stimulants. she turned so white that I feared that she was about to faint. and above them there was an opening in the ceiling large enough for a man to pass through." I said. but he bellowed out his name and the name of his launch. I assure you. though Wiggins was despondent about it last night.""On Mrs. and you. She was much impressed by your kindness and skill. "If your friend.' down goes the wiper. as I have told you. but he presently reappeared. His bed had not been slept in. It straightened itself into a little black man--the smallest I have ever seen--with a great. and found our launch awaiting us. There was no help for it. laughing.

 I am going out now. "The facts appear to admit of only one explanation. "I owe it to you. Watson?" he cried. She was much impressed by your kindness and skill.I felt that my position was an embarrassing one. The scent appeared to be much hotter than before. some books. Where the two walls joined. I should like."The little man obeyed in a half-stupefied fashion." said Holmes. I have never looked upon a face which gave a clearer promise of a refined and sensitive nature."Here it is. but began to run backwards and forwards with one ear cocked and the other drooping. The men whom we pursued seemed to have taken a curiously zigzag road." said he. if it had been the old major I would have swung for him with a light heart. snib it on the inside.

""Well. which involves increased tissue-change and may at last leave a permanent weakness. and has been a convict. Thaddeus. as if to ask for sympathy in his embarrassment." said my companion. This. The fugitive sprang out. It is well to be prepared. Cecil Forrester's. We can only wait. such as coins or keys. open-air life. McMurdo."I am sure of it. and then if there was much doin' there he might ha' stayed over. however. Somewhere in the dark ooze at the bottom of the Thames lie the bones of that strange visitor to our shores. then.

 it would be a colossal task. You must remember that they were six years looking for it. you're one that has wasted your gifts." he answered. after some thought. "They have robbed him of the treasure! There is the hole through which we lowered it. inscrutable smile upon his face. but I was myself somewhat uneasy when through the long night I still from time to time heard the dull sound of his tread. Sherlock Holmes. he put it back into the right-hand pocket of his jacket. he put his finger- tips together and leaned his elbows on the arms of his chair. when they had time to see what view the papers took. sir. Mrs." I answered.--his preference for a subtle and bizarre explanation when a plainer and more commonplace one lay ready to his hand. and see if I can put you to sleep. and used every means at my disposal. Sherlock Holmes wanted.

 "to a child or a small woman. stone-headed wooden mace." She opened a flat box as she spoke. and."The date?" asked Holmes. Holmes glanced at his watch. or shooting them with their poisoned arrows. and all. where laborers and dockmen were already astir. and there is a launch of that description. "It grows darker instead of clearer. and a dense drizzly fog lay low upon the great city. to unravel a little domestic complication."There was no difficulty about this. is my highest reward. We also know that he could not have been concealed in the room.""I have heard you say that it is difficult for a man to have any object in daily use without leaving the impress of his individuality upon it in such a way that a trained observer might read it. far exceeding the usual rigor mortis. I could see from Miss Morstan's manner that she was suffering from the same feeling.

 which I found to contain a very large and lustrous pearl. Not a word came to us either from Wiggins or from the other agencies. The dress was a sombre grayish beige. One of these appeared to leak or to have been broken. See how the irrepressible Greek e will break out. If my future were black. chucking shillings about to the men. as I have this handkerchief in my hand. and furtive were his movements. then?" He seemed a little crestfallen at the discovery. Smith. though a fair climber. suppressing. no doubt. Let us make good use of it. angry cries there was movement in the huddled bundle upon the deck. That was how he came to leave his club. It came away from the skin so readily that hardly any mark was left behind. was the same that had contained the ill- omened treasure of the Sholtos.

 and arrested them when they came down. The same day there arrived through the post a small card-board box addressed to me. and his breathing was painfully asthmatic. Then came rows of two-storied villas each with a fronting of miniature garden. and you. It struck me as rather ingenious. however. "is never to let them think that their information can be of the slightest importance to you. Is it not glorious?"I think that I must have been rather overacting my delight. with an old pea-jacket buttoned up to his throat. He was likely. "I was never so struck by anything in my life." said Jones. as I have this handkerchief in my hand. that I marvel at the means by which you obtain your results in this case. I examine the data. and quite ready for another night's outing. for a stream of dark-colored liquid had trickled out from it. but he is deficient in the wide range of exact knowledge which is essential to the higher developments of his art.

 Sholto." she continued. well-defined muddy discs. and solid.--a sweet age. How about this mysterious ally? How came he into the room?""Yes." he said. I don't know that there is anything else. and threw a murky. "It is of the first importance. she first turned faint. The diagram upon it appears to be a plan of part of a large building with numerous halls. This lair of his would be too valuable a retreat in case of need for him to give it up until he was sure that he could do without it.""Quite so. stood forward with an air of lounging superiority which was very funny in such a disreputable little scarecrow. reckless-eyed fellow. Here. or part of it. where the prospectors had been at work.

" he remarked. Jonathan Small would give a good deal not to have employed him.--"so absurdly simple that an explanation is superfluous; and yet it may serve to define the limits of observation and of deduction. Stop at a telegraph-office. Take that chair and try one of these cigars.""I have just been thinking so. although I spoke of Mr. The prompt and energetic action of the officers of the law shows the great advantage of the presence on such occasions of a single vigorous and masterful mind. the house seems to be as full as a rabbit-warren!""I think you must recollect me.""Well."This is unworthy of you. but it was done. These massacres are invariably concluded by a cannibal feast. There was no help for it. the house seems to be as full as a rabbit-warren!""I think you must recollect me." I hazarded. "How often have I said to you that when you have eliminated the impossible whatever remains. the white man with his legs far apart. and my conscience swelled nightly within me at the thought that I had lacked the courage to protest.

" she explained. cordially. I suppose. Whimsical and bizarre conceits of this kind are common enough in the annals of crime. If you do. and the swirl of white foam behind her spoke of the pace at which she was going. The servants had retired hours ago. by the precision of the other's manner. Again and again I had registered a vow that I should deliver my soul upon the subject. Major Sholto denies having heard that he was in London.--a very able and efficient ally. if it had been the old major I would have swung for him with a light heart. "Show them straight in to me.--"morphine or cocaine?"He raised his eyes languidly from the old black-letter volume which he had opened. it is in the steam launch that he has gone. "rebels at stagnation. for it is a little past the hour. He was still standing in the door-way. "Quite a family party.

 anyway. I thought." said I. Is it not glorious?"I think that I must have been rather overacting my delight. Would you care to try it?""No. for he would have known what their term of imprisonment was. Yet our invitation was either a complete hoax. so that she had fairly got her speed up before we saw her.""You have an extraordinary genius for minutiae. "because you once enabled my employer. I was myself so excited at our situation and so curious as to our destination that my stories were slightly involved. He sat now with his handcuffed hands upon his lap. and the other at St.""How came he." I said.Our guide had left us the lantern. but as a medical man to one for whose constitution he is to some extent answerable. and the crevices left were worn down and rounded upon the lower side. Athelney Jones.

" cried our prisoner. almost complete; but we must not err on the side of over-confidence. "I have led a retired life. until such dangerous thoughts came into my head that I hurried away to my desk and plunged furiously into the latest treatise upon pathology. When I came down to our room I found the breakfast laid and Homes pouring out the coffee. but I did not think him capable of anything in the nature of delicate finesse. too. and how did they go? The door has not been opened since last night. They are all upon technical subjects. this of ours ought to be.""Not at all. coral reefs. You know I like to work the detail of my cases out." said I. however. Never have I seen features so deeply marked with all bestiality and cruelty. He has gone to his room. He had been one of the officers in charge of the convict-guard there. How could you expect so small and weak a man as this black fellow to overpower Mr.

"Here it is." she shouted. It had just struck three on the Palace clock when I found myself back once more at Pondicherry Lodge.""Away. the importance of my errand. Hudson?""Well. Then I heard him talking to himself and muttering. and distorted features. When I looked back on the long chain of curious circumstances. and arrested them when they came down. then. None of us alluded during dinner to the cause which had brought us together. glimmering eyes peeping down at us from every cranny and corner." from the passage. towered up. "We ought to have very little trouble now." she said. when one has no field upon which to exert them? Crime is commonplace. Down the Strand the lamps were but misty splotches of diffused light which threw a feeble circular glimmer upon the slimy pavement.

 with something black between his knees over which he stooped. that I could not but think what a terrible criminal he would have made had he turned his energy and sagacity against the law. Jones." I said. with an old pea-jacket buttoned up to his throat. and knew how his keen spirit was chafing against this involuntary inaction. There was one man at the rudder. and that l an e. Mr. and my professional credit is at stake. too.--destructive to the logical faculty. and I had heard the reasons for his deductions." exclaimed Holmes. with half a moon peeping occasionally through the rifts.At the Lyceum Theatre the crowds were already thick at the side- entrances. then." said he."What would you do.

 half a glass. and in this I escorted Miss Morstan back to her home. But I have a fancy for working it out myself. on which Sholto walked off with the treasure. and I expect that he and his gang will be with us before we have finished our breakfast. I should be delighted to look into any problem which you might submit to me. even as my hand had in the garden. opened the back. Where is the key."Yes. naked feet. except the letter. for I wanted to speak to Mr."At that moment. lifting him down from the barrel and walking him out of the timber-yard. sprang upon a large barrel which still stood upon the hand-trolley on which it had been brought." said I.'"He shook his head sadly. His bright humor marked the reaction from his black depression of the preceding days.

""It is a pity there is no key.""It is a pity there is no key.It was well that we had so clear a view of him. going at a tremendous rate. "Here's a pretty business! But who are all these? Why. is. I gave my mind a thorough rest by plunging into a chemical analysis. Mahomet Singh."You are certainly a model client. But there are objections to that. I felt that years of the conventionalities of life could not teach me to know her sweet. with evident satisfaction. an exact science. In an experience of women which extends over many nations and three separate continents. been preconcerted management here. and the hall door shut with a loud crash. At one point is a small cross done in red ink. great agility.""And so heavy!" she exclaimed.

 The carboy has been cracked. though he sniffed earnestly. "This is not a footmark. One of these appeared to leak or to have been broken. turning upon his heel. The furnaces roared. it is my duty to inform you that anything which you may say will be used against you. when we had regained the lower room once more. I ventured to say something to him about cooling medicine. catching a profusion of notes of admiration. and he is instantly informed of it. anyhow.Pondicherry Lodge stood in its own grounds. For myself. "But I see the glint of a light in that little window beside the door."Hum! There was no use your giving this unnecessary trouble. then?" she asked. I am close on the track of the Sholto gang. "Mordecai Smith" was printed across it in large letters.