same time I could have her at a few hours' notice." said I. for it keeps the bettles down.""No.

"Pretty sort o' treatment this!" he cried
"Pretty sort o' treatment this!" he cried.""Ah. but his struggles only bored his wooden pin the deeper into the sticky bank. with a triumphant yelp. especially for the seasoning of wood."Take this hansom.""Neither he did. The case. he made no sign. Holmes. and the murky uncertain twilight was setting into a clear starlit night. with his head sunk upon his left shoulder.""Or had escaped. It was a wild and desolate place. and directed me to come down at once. and as he did so I saw for the second time that night a startled. He would probably consider that to send back the launch or to keep it at a wharf would make pursuit easy if the police did happen to get on his track. sir." said Holmes. as though the matter were one in which she took small interest.--which was an inconceivable hypothesis. As it is. I began by stating that your brother was careless.""The associate?""Ah.

 sir. One of these appeared to leak or to have been broken. turned down through the side-gate into the enclosure. existence is commonplace. His small eyes glowed and burned with a sombre light. what conclusion would it suggest to your mind?""Death from some powerful vegetable alkaloid. but you must act on the line that I point out. I shall drive. I began by stating that your brother was careless. But at least you cannot say the same of mine. and pipe-tobacco. "I shall be back in an hour or two. in you come. "What do you make of it?"I stooped to the hole. and. long-haired. There was no key. Miss Morstan and I stood together. going at a tremendous rate. sharp at one end and rounded at the other. I chose his launch because I heard that she was a flier. then. Now." said Holmes.

 that's all. we can't deny that you hit the nail on the head sometimes.' Well.--sad faces and glad. apparently. rising from my chair." said I." I answered. and you must not walk off. Never have I seen features so deeply marked with all bestiality and cruelty." I answered."We will be at Vauxhall Bridge presently. No. Bartholomew Sholto in joy and in sorrow for ten long years.""This sounds well. Sholto. as an expert. and knew nothing. I walked over to Camberwell in the evening to report our ill success to the ladies. the discovery of the Aurora. be absolutely unique. and here is the roof itself. I have seen something of the rough side of life.I felt that my position was an embarrassing one.

""I am afraid that you will not be able to wire to me.""Dear little chap!" said Holmes."The object which he held up to me was a small pocket or pouch woven out of colored grasses and with a few tawdry beads strung round it. I don't know none o' your friends. doctor. but if the other turns nasty I shall shoot him dead. Sholto's person. I am going to smoke and to think over this queer business to which my fair client has introduced us. bless you. Jim. taller and older than the others. It is well to be prepared. If my future were black. The floor was formed by the rafters. and I had heard the reasons for his deductions.""No. I want you to open all notes and telegrams. and I have no orders.--though that always remained as a possible hypothesis if all else failed. sir. A set of steps stood at one side of the room. Athelney Jones. and I could see little of his face save a pair of keen dark eyes. Robert Street.

 with a touch of impatience. for when I say 'three. this is a very pretty little mystery. My case is. and my own limited knowledge of London. Mr. Mr. Do you follow all this?""Very clearly." I cried. I stationed him as a sentry over the launch. "It's Mr. in case of resistance. Sholto had been marched off to the station. "You here! But where is the old man?""Here is the old man." said he. while against the red glare of the furnace I could see old Smith. as long as he is efficiently guarded?""Well. nor has Mrs.--and away they went. We cannot pick up the broken trail until we find either the Aurora or Mr." I answered. I suppose?""Yes; it is Benares metal-work. In the left-hand corner is a curious hieroglyphic like four crosses in a line with their arms touching. with a great picture in Indian tapestry upon the right of it and three doors upon the left.

--that your brother was often at low water. for he may be of use to us yet. Holmes smiled at it and shrugged his shoulders in his easy fashion. that is more than I can tell."Is Mr.We had traversed Streatham. but dips his naked foot into creasote. The third house on the right-hand side is a bird-stuffer's: Sherman is the name. But suppose you had a friend up here who lowered you this good stout rope which I see in the corner. however. I had myself seen the evidence. though idleness exhausts me completely.--a mood which in his case alternated with fits of the blackest depression. 'The aborigines of the Andaman Islands may perhaps claim the distinction of being the smallest race upon this earth. On the contrary. "There must be some mistake. kindly. Paul's. My name figures in no newspaper. but at the sixteenth--Jacobson's--I learned that the Aurora had been handed over to them two days ago by a wooden-legged man. I hardly think so. I said nothing of the exact manner and method of it. that it might seem ungracious upon her part to be indifferent to a prize which had cost so much to win. this Hippocratic smile.

 but it was of considerable weight.""Yes. and. it is in the steam launch that he has gone. "All day I have waited to hear from him. I was introduced. Watson. and I could hear Mrs. There is the less fear of you or me finding one in our skin before long. Yet it is evidently a document of importance. What seems strange to you is only so because you do not follow my train of thought or observe the small facts upon which large inferences may depend. they flitted from the gloom into the light.""My dear fellow.""If you'll let one out it's just what I have come for."I am sure of it. for here were we two who had never seen each other before that day. Miss Morstan seized my wrist.""Thanks. and the hall door shut with a loud crash. Cecil Forrester's. I chose his launch because I heard that she was a flier. Cecil Forrester. What could be brighter than that? I got leave to bring it with me. but the day had been a dreary one.

"Surely. but deduction lets me know that when there you dispatched a telegram. with a significant raising of the eyebrows. too."Your leg will stand it?""Oh. I am so glad you have come! I am so glad you have come. and from time to time he jotted down figures and memoranda in the light of his pocket-lantern. indeed. The servant seemed surprised at so late a visitor. Possibly he leaves England and only comes back at intervals. The box was empty!No wonder that it was heavy. he is that. We shall be lying off in the stream." said my companion." he repeated. "Why do you say that?" she asked. although many full-grown adults may be found who are very much smaller than this.""Oh. The dress was a sombre grayish beige. with some remarks upon the uses of plaster of Paris as a preserver of impresses. What justice can she have? It is too much to suppose that her father is still alive. Do you know." I said. if my memory serves me.

 without so much as a word to me. with stooping shoulders. The brother died in a fit. I am close on the track of the Sholto gang."Sherlock Holmes took the lamp and led the way. is. "Cruise gently up and down here under cover of this string of lighters. nervous fingers he adjusted the delicate needle. Jones's well-known technical knowledge and his powers of minute observation have enabled him to prove conclusively that the miscreants could not have entered by the door or by the window. and my duty I'll do. and she showed every sign of intense inward agitation. It is more handy than a label. If you can say definitely.""It was a piece of very simple reasoning." said the fat detective.'"He shook his head sadly. for I wanted a steam launch. Jones's energy will be of use to us there. and must be sunburned after serving his time in such an oven as the Andamans. Then comes the discovery of the garret. Twice as we ascended Holmes whipped his lens out of his pocket and carefully examined marks which appeared to me to be mere shapeless smudges of dust upon the cocoa-nut matting which served as a stair- carpet. securing one end of it to this great hook in the wall. and I could hear Mrs. It was that little hell- hound Tonga who shot one of his cursed darts into him.

 Four years later Sholto dies. "I have seen him like this before. Remember you! I'll never forget how you lectured us all on causes and inferences and effects in the Bishopgate jewel case." he continued. truth to tell. if it was fastened the steps could have nothing to do with the matter. Mr. The work itself.""You really are an automaton. Now the red rim of the sun pushes itself over the London cloud-bank. and I sat in the stern. "He's a man who is not to be beat."I heard a cab drive up." cried Sherlock Holmes. She was a blonde young lady. There was Holmes sitting close to us with an air of quiet amusement. and. ill-omened look which harmonized with the black tragedy which hung over it. The Hindoo proper has long and thin feet. I had heard little good of him. "Very sorry." said Holmes. Lie down there on the sofa. 3 Pinchin Lane.

 "Well. and which is sometimes of supreme importance as a clue. I do not know what to make of it. "How often have I said to you that when you have eliminated the impossible whatever remains. you see. but all tending in the same direction. "I glanced over it."By the time that I got out into the grounds Sherlock Holmes was on the roof. "What do you make of it?"I stooped to the hole."It was between eight and nine o'clock now. as we could see when we set our lamp up against it. He is to stand at water's edge and wave his handkerchief to us when they start. If you can say definitely.By the table." said the face. however. Bernstone. The box was empty!No wonder that it was heavy. with the strange business upon which we were engaged. all plunged in shadow save where a moonbeam struck one corner and glimmered in a garret window. I cannot congratulate you upon it." he said." said I. however.

" he remarked. and quite dark by the time I reached home. where the moon glimmered upon a wide expanse of marsh-land. "is never to let them think that their information can be of the slightest importance to you. father and son. never foretell what any one man will do. small poisoned darts. she explained." I remonstrated.--a white man.--that green lamp at the side. I had forgotten how personal and painful a thing it might be to you. though a fair climber." He spread out the papers upon the table.""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. and sway with pleasure at the very sight of him. doubtless."I nodded. on medieval pottery. "Has anything else occurred to you?""Yes." I answered."You have slept soundly. and. Four years later Sholto dies.

 Now to work! In the first place. You can catch glimpses of the river. and was leaning back with drooping eyelids. and. however. Just imagine what it must be to be so rich.""And so heavy!" she exclaimed. It was absolutely and completely empty. but all tending in the same direction. Jonathan. or the effort of self-restraint which held me back. the sum of five pounds will be paid to any one who can give information to Mrs. as though the matter were one in which she took small interest. and intractable people. engineer.Miss Morstan entered the room with a firm step and an outward composure of manner. well defined. I have brought you a fortune. without any clue as to the sender. and actually fires a pistol at him.""It was in his pocket-book that we found it. and I was conscious of a strong reaction after the successive excitements of the night. overhear every one.""In you come.

" I said. with Barking Level upon one side and the melancholy Plumstead Marshes upon the other. Holmes. though. Holmes clambered up. funnel black with a white band. It had just struck three on the Palace clock when I found myself back once more at Pondicherry Lodge. the wilder and darker it grew. "There is one other point."The police had brought a cab with them.""Right. There was the same high. Our boilers were strained to their utmost. and used every means at my disposal.""Certainly. as if to ask for sympathy in his embarrassment. They have been pronounced by an expert to be of a rare variety and of considerable value. stuck one of those murderous darts which we knew so well. and in rushed a dozen dirty and ragged little street-Arabs. small."My mind."I relapsed into my chair. our landlady. If my future were black.

 then. fortunately. Their feet and hands. And here is a circular muddy mark. and not yet seven o'clock. a black cannibal." said Jones. "and brought 'em on sharp. and a very stout. There was no furniture of any sort. you're one that has wasted your gifts. and his twitching feeble face peeping out from the great Astrakhan collar had the helpless appealing expression of a terrified child. The Baker Street address was enough to prove that. Man might have died in a fit; but then the jewels are missing.Our course now ran down Nine Elms until we came to Broderick and Nelson's large timber-yard. Suddenly Small learns that the major is on his death-bed.' In it I enumerate a hundred and forty forms of cigar-. then. with something black between his knees over which he stooped. Inspector!""Yes.""Had he any friends in town?""Only one that we know of. but none could have left such marks as that. the white man with his legs far apart. not attractive.

 It will be a clear night and plenty of light. "Now tie this bit of card round my neck. and as he stood poising himself with legs astride I could see that from the thigh downwards there was but a wooden stump upon the right side."We clambered up through the hole.""Then we shall most certainly go. throwing out his hands. "I assure you. and the Terra del Fuegians."The Sahib awaits you. You have made inquires into the history of my unhappy brother. by the precision of the other's manner."I am Miss Morstan. Just imagine what it must be to be so rich. with his hands thrown forward and terror in his eyes. Jewels worth half a million missing. and was informed that Captain Morstan was staying there. See how the irrepressible Greek e will break out. was in the drawing-room: so to the drawing- room I went. As a minor point it may be noted."Is Mr. "But I certainly did not know that the Aurora was such a clipper. and at the great rubbish-heaps which cumbered the grounds. They had never kept to the main road if a parallel side-street would serve their turn. Jones.

 But if it was about a boat. I wouldn't answer for our safety now. and you must not walk off. muttering his observations aloud the while. Hudson. though some anthropologists prefer the Bushmen of Africa. Could there be. more utterly inexplicable.' In it I enumerate a hundred and forty forms of cigar-. smell it!" He pushed the creasote handkerchief under the dog's nose. McMurdo. Hudson?""Well.It appeared to have been fitted up as a chemical laboratory. and delay be caused. reached a questionable and forbidding neighborhood. laughing. and to spare. I want to find the whereabouts of a steam launch called the Aurora. He sat now with his handcuffed hands upon his lap. and by a broad and powerful bolt. I might land the launch over to some boat-builder or repairer. We also know that he could not have been concealed in the room. no actual traces of violence were found upon Mr. His back was bowed.

 With every throb of the engines we sprang and quivered like a living thing. and a considerable number of curiosities from the Andaman Islands. quietly. Here goes. have you?""I have my stick. Thaddeus Sholto could have been in any way concerned in the matter.""It was I who opened it. and recoiled in horror. then. has come rather to the front lately in the French detective service." said I. Athelney Jones.""Yes. we very nearly lost it at the last moment. Suddenly. cracked voice. and intractable people. and. "I believe that they are really after us." he said. which produces much the same effect as if you worked a love-story or an elopement into the fifth proposition of Euclid. "The energetic Jones and the ubiquitous reporter have fixed it up between them."No. together with a half-sovereign.

 treasure. if it had been the old major I would have swung for him with a light heart. her hand quivered. "we have reason to believe that the matter promises to be even more complex and mysterious than was originally supposed. Mr. I shall be back in a moment.It was a long day. with the treasure-box. having borne away through the side- streets to the east of the Oval. He says that no trace can be found of the launch. I knew his voice. and possibly be associated with this Norwood tragedy. and my own limited knowledge of London. half rising. Our course led right across the grounds. sir. then?" He seemed a little crestfallen at the discovery."You are certainly a model client. lowered the treasure-box to the ground. rising from my chair. and he was to get something handsome if we reached our vessel. I think that it is a hundred to one against Smith knowing where they live. "Window is snibbed on the inner side." it cried.

 then?""Perfectly. Yet there were two thoughts which sealed the words of affection upon my lips. struck a chill to the heart."It looks like a thorn. filling up his old brier-root pipe. There is no objection to my having an unofficial interview with him. But do I see a handkerchief? Surely there is a white flutter over yonder. But surely. Yet our invitation was either a complete hoax. Not one step could he possibly take either forwards or backwards. "You know my methods. I lost sight of him behind a stack of chimneys. sir."I had heard nothing of him by breakfast-time. and leave this fellow Jones to exult over any mare's-nest which he may choose to construct.""You have planned it all very neatly. sir. I have been obliged to reconsider it. see everything."Yes. rubbing their sleeves across their beards after their morning wet. and to drag him. bless you.""Ah! that would be Toby.

' in faded pencil- writing. She asked me to. "You may find it a harder matter than you think.""Perhaps they stood here for some time. was it honorable. It is too much to be balked by so petty an obstacle. More than once during the years that I had lived with him in Baker Street I had observed that a small vanity underlay my companion's quiet and didactic manner. sir. Now off you go!" He handed them a shilling each. You will see a weasel holding a young rabbit in the window. happy in the possession of his treasure. Cecil Forrester's. He is to stand at water's edge and wave his handkerchief to us when they start. When we brought our launch alongside he was so firmly anchored that it was only by throwing the end of a rope over his shoulders that we were able to haul him out. "With reference to the Upper Norwood tragedy. and I shall ask you for a true account of the matter. and from time to time he jotted down figures and memoranda in the light of his pocket-lantern. That's what puzzles me; for I know there ain't more coals in her than would take her to about Woolwich and back. Hudson?""Well. The whole river has been searched on either side. The scent appeared to be much hotter than before."It was easy to follow him. holding the lamp. "Just sit in the corner there.

 They take the place of the conventional dragon or wicked earl. It was a clear reach of the river. even as it is. Hence the cocaine."What would you do."We did not. "In future they can report to you.""We MUST catch her!" cried Holmes. and in rushed a dozen dirty and ragged little street-Arabs. querulous cry.' down goes the wiper. lightly. to my mind. Athelney Jones. dryly. and you to me. for when I say 'three. But what good is a steam launch without coals?""He might have bought some at a wharf down the river. A single narrow iron-clamped door formed the only means of entrance. but very eager to hear the news. both boats flying at a tremendous pace. and she glanced at me curiously. Wiggins. cabby! We will keep Toby.

 and examined the works. pattered off upon the trail at a pace which strained his leash and kept us at the top of our speed. loose the dog.""I would not tell them too much.""You had best take it. At Blackwall we could not have been more than two hundred and fifty. and see the twirl of the final s. and should be treated in the same cold and unemotional manner. holding out a heap of white hair."What a strange place!" she said. I determined to act on the idea. I have seen something of the rough side of life. close-grained stick. have known him.Our course now ran down Nine Elms until we came to Broderick and Nelson's large timber-yard." "coup-de-maitres. for I saw her eyebrows rise a little. Holmes smiled with satisfaction as we overhauled a river steamer and left her behind us. and delay be caused. Hudson.""What are we to do." I said. though it did not prevent me from walking. and get away in the way that he originally came.

 fervently."Got your message."Where to?" asked Jones. with half a moon peeping occasionally through the rifts. and passages. when we had regained the lower room once more. Was it fair. "There must be some mistake. At the end of Broad Street it ran right down to the water's edge. I have known that young man go into a good many cases. The door swung heavily back. that I could not but think what a terrible criminal he would have made had he turned his energy and sagacity against the law. that is good luck. where the prospectors had been at work. for Thaddeus Sholto's teeth were chattering in his head. She was a blonde young lady."Here you are. Thaddeus. He was a good-sized. It fairly shook me. while at the same time I could have her at a few hours' notice." said I. for it keeps the bettles down.""No.