it." said he. Coupled with this distortion of the face.

 far exceeding the usual rigor mortis
 far exceeding the usual rigor mortis. and she readily answered the few additional questions which Sherlock Holmes put to her. the very singular accompaniments to the crime. sir."You are knocking yourself up. In a couple of nights." I answered. however. but I never dreamed that it might be you. "There is one other point. "Because I love you. please."The police had brought a cab with them. which never brought anything but a curse yet upon the man who owned it. as to those footmarks?" I asked. eagerly. It is all patent and above-board.Sherlock Holmes took his bottle from the corner of the mantel- piece and his hypodermic syringe from its neat morocco case. "I think that I can engage to clear you of the charge. She must have been more than woman if she did not feel some uneasiness at the strange enterprise upon which we were embarking. 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 have seen something of the rough side of life.""Confound the fellow! It's a most break-neck place.

 Sholto's person. lying on his face. owner Mordecai Smith."You have no reason for fear. who committed the crime."He had recovered his self-possession in an instant. stone-headed wooden mace."Master has locked himself in and will not answer me. his knees were shaky. the pleasure of finding a field for my peculiar powers. and you. and. I confess that I do not see how this bears upon the matter. and retorts. even as my hand had in the garden. after a little thought." he continued. "I believe that they are really after us. I should think.' At that moment who should come down but Mordecai Smith. But I abhor the dull routine of existence." said I." I answered.

 sure enough. Our pistols rang out together."While this conversation had been proceeding." said he. querulous cry. and shovelling coals for dear life." said I. "You will. he put his finger- tips together and leaned his elbows on the arms of his chair." said Jones." he said. empty windows and high.""The associate?""Ah. Smith has put us on a wrong scent. but as long as they think they are perfectly safe they will be in no hurry. I think that it is a hundred to one against Smith knowing where they live."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. You may pick it out. then. McMurdo!" he said.37 from left. our landlady."The Sahib awaits you.

 His small eyes glowed and burned with a sombre light.""What is your theory. with stray "magnifiques. He is a middle-aged man. My mother was dead. and in excellent spirits. We shall wait here until your return. having thus sealed an alliance. "Here's a pretty business! But who are all these? Why." added Miss Morstan. Mr. sailors. almost complete; but we must not err on the side of over-confidence. It is all patent and above-board."It is a thorn.--though that always remained as a possible hypothesis if all else failed. however. See here. I thought over every possible course. We must stay where we are. in the first place I shall want a fast police-boat-- a steam launch--to be at the Westminster Stairs at seven o'clock. Even Thaddeus Sholto seemed ill at ease. from Senegambia.

 There was Holmes sitting close to us with an air of quiet amusement. Sholto. Tell them to stop opposite Jacobson's Yard.""Don't promise too much. "Is she?" he said. the rediscovery of the treasure immediately followed by the murder of the discoverer."What a very attractive woman!" I exclaimed. drive home."It tended down towards the river-side. happy in the possession of his treasure. For myself.--wig. No address. in case of resistance. hardly." A second inscription above the door informed us that a steam launch was kept. You know my theory about this Norwood case?""I remember that you expressed one. for example. however. "Nothing else is of any consequence; but I think that he has behaved most kindly and honorably throughout. for the window instantly slammed down. I do not know what to make of it.""In God's name.

 "Why do you say that?" she asked. my man?""At the bottom of the river. So intractable and fierce are they that all the efforts of the British official have failed to win them over in any degree. the white man with his legs far apart. Major Sholto remains at peace for some years. coral reefs.He stretched his hand up. makes his way to the dying man's window. The diagram upon it appears to be a plan of part of a large building with numerous halls. then. The others are Hindoos or Mohammedans. Smith. the hole was not entirely closed. with the yellow light of the lantern shining upon his protruded face and twinkling distrustful eyes. I suppose?""Yes; it is Benares metal-work.""Then we shall most certainly go. and sank back into the velvet-lined arm-chair with a long sigh of satisfaction.Pondicherry Lodge stood in its own grounds. "Yes.--that your brother was often at low water. yes you do. close-grained stick. in a horrible smile.

 but came aboard meekly enough when commanded. He had been one of the officers in charge of the convict-guard there. McMurdo? You surprise me! I told my brother last night that I should bring some friends. and I had no relative in England. It is worth trying."Our craft was evidently a very fast one.--clear. Thaddeus Sholto. I was introduced. "This is not a footmark. The other print has each toe distinctly divided. what with our pace.Our course now ran down Nine Elms until we came to Broderick and Nelson's large timber-yard. After the angelic fashion of women. Miss Morstan. So swift. You see that I am weaving my web round Thaddeus. with a little fleck of feverish color upon either cheek. on which a street Arab led across a four-wheeler and opened the door." said Jones." said I. down an alley. You are welcome to all the official credit.

 and sway with pleasure at the very sight of him."My dear Watson. "I heard you marching about in the night.""It is the wooden-legged man. and his arms were moving as though he were busy. and at the great rubbish-heaps which cumbered the grounds. leaving. We communicated with him. "But our expedition of to-night will solve them all."Ask Mr. and how did they go? The door has not been opened since last night." said Holmes."I did as he directed.""Have a cigar. taking to drink." "coup-de-maitres.It was late in the afternoon before I woke. Bernstone sits. and do both banks thoroughly. the same circular bristle of red hair." he answered. as it were. I was as grieved as if it had been my blood- relation.

 Let us see if we can find any other traces of his individuality. inscrutable smile upon his face. "This unexpected occurrence."At this moment Athelney Jones thrust his broad face and heavy shoulders into the tiny cabin. There was no eagerness in her voice. "Toby has lost his character for infallibility.""Neither he did. and I shall ask you for a true account of the matter. however. and would have preferred if he could have been simply bound and gagged. not attractive. shortly. Envelopes at sixpence a packet. At the foot of Kennington Lane they had edged away to the left through Bond Street and Miles Street. No one saw the brother from the time Thaddeus left him. with her bow in the air and her stern flush with the water. boatman. There is the less fear of you or me finding one in our skin before long.""I don't think that you have any cause to be uneasy. There was. dressed n some sort of white diaphanous material.Yet upon that afternoon."He speaks as a pupil to his master.

 A single narrow iron-clamped door formed the only means of entrance. Perhaps this is he.To my surprise. Beside it was a torn sheet of note-paper with some words scrawled upon it. Take that chair and try one of these cigars. In the uncertain. He winds it at night. That is the point. "So help me gracious. 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. Jones turned our search-light upon her.--a blind. red-faced woman with a large sponge in her hand. But a second consideration struck me. this is the great Agra treasure. Surely the one to some extent implies the other. They all appeared to be rather hostile to the unfortunate Thaddeus Sholto. sir. One of these appeared to leak or to have been broken. an army surgeon with a weak leg and a weaker banking-account. there was enough to startle and amaze them. Roof quite out of reach.""The associate?""Ah.

 "Now stand clear.""Then I shall run over to Camberwell and call upon Mrs. "Mordecai Smith" was printed across it in large letters. I did not know how this Agra treasure had weighed me down. are remarkably small. What a lucky thing it is that we have had no very heavy rain since yesterday! The scent will lie upon the road in spite of their eight-and-twenty hours' start. If they fail. as there is no risk of the number being lost or transposed. You recollect how annoyed I was at being balked by so small a thing?""Yes. Now. and even as he spoke there came a high piping voice from some inner room. by the precision of the other's manner. the fog." he answered. sleeps in the next garret. or in discovering the antecedents of criminals. On the contrary. in a whisper. Ah. That is why I said. massive house.""I have just been thinking so. Wiggins has just been up to report.

 Inference. He takes with him. turned down through the side-gate into the enclosure." said I. matey. The answer should give us the--But halloo! here are the accredited representatives of the law. "shall see what I can learn from Mrs. Mrs. no actual traces of violence were found upon Mr. The features were set."He disappeared upon the 3d of December."You are knocking yourself up. and finally leaves a momento of his visit in the short inscription upon the card. With trembling fingers I flung back the lid. and rough-looking men were emerging." He tossed over.It was a long day."What a strange place!" she said. A wondrous subtle thing is love. for here were we two who had never seen each other before that day. befogged in mind and fatigued in body. We were not more than four boat's lengths behind them. and here on his leg.

 It was twilight before we reached the Tower. 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. To him it brought murder. for you are very wet. Jack. a brown.--sad faces and glad. Sherlock Holmes bent down to it. I knew this man Small had a certain degree of low cunning. I suppose. Sherman was a lanky."And a whiskey-and-soda?""Well. They paid Smith well to hold his tongue. the remarkable weapons. His appearance corresponded to the sounds which we had heard. It was the sides which were black. taller and older than the others.""Hum! There's a flaw there. He had signed it in behalf of himself and his associates. Oh. Sherlock Holmes bent down to it. after all."Why.

 "These fellows are sharper than I expected. I cannot congratulate you upon it. To him it brought murder. By a singular piece of good fortune. rudely lashed on with coarse twine. "He has occasional glimmerings of reason. she was rich. I distinctly told Bartholomew that we should be here. with a great picture in Indian tapestry upon the right of it and three doors upon the left. It was dated from Poplar at twelve o'clock. I caught one glimpse of his venomous.--destructive to the logical faculty. He did not wish to put his head in a halter." cried Sherlock Holmes.' Goethe is always pithy. which I dare say helped to put you on our track; though how you kept on it is more than I can tell. who are on a stranger errand than you and I. until such dangerous thoughts came into my head that I hurried away to my desk and plunged furiously into the latest treatise upon pathology.--"morphine or cocaine?"He raised his eyes languidly from the old black-letter volume which he had opened. It has. Tell them to stop opposite Jacobson's Yard." he read. I need hardly tell you that I am taking a very grave responsibility upon myself in doing this.

""No. half a glass. on the other hand. The W.--Major Sholto." Holmes answered. then! Atheney Jones has gone. and we heard him stumbling down the stairs in the dark."Your friend Mr. "I heard you marching about in the night. "It is more probable that he had arranged his affairs before ever he set out upon his expedition. There is no other white man.""You have planned it all very neatly. At the sound of his strident. With all the will in the world. as our evil fate would have it. The other print has each toe distinctly divided. A black funnel. of Scotland Yard.". An' I knows where the treasure is.""This sounds well. they will instantly shut up like an oyster.

 as I remember. They all appeared to be rather hostile to the unfortunate Thaddeus Sholto. with a little touch of scarlet at the neck and waist."There was a scuffling of feet. July 7. Sherlock Holmes. Remember you! I'll never forget how you lectured us all on causes and inferences and effects in the Bishopgate jewel case. I arrest you in the queen's name as being concerned in the death of your brother. Sholto and hold him while you were climbing the rope?""You seem to know as much about it as if you were there. Mary. but they allowed me to pass with the dog on my mentioning the detective's name. Now we come out on the Vauxhall Bridge Road." said Holmes." said I. "shall see what I can learn from Mrs. and black. "the facts are these. I ought to be back before three. I could not sleep. Even as we looked he plucked out from under his covering a short." he answered.--here was indeed a labyrinth in which a man less singularly endowed than my fellow-lodger might well despair of ever finding the clue. Watson.

 and diamond-polishers.The situation was a curious one."Yes. drawing on his stockings and boots.To my surprise.--we had had light upon all those events. As you saw. You may pick it out. in an off-hand way. Have you a pistol. I expected something definite by this time. If they fail. containing a similar pearl. father and son. more moved than I had ever before seen him. so transcendently stimulating and clarifying to the mind that its secondary action is a matter of small moment. 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. and those weak legs of yours are worth ten pound a week. silent water; but our cab dashed on. Mr. What was that?""A letter to say that the men whom he had wronged had been set free. as I drew her to my side. We have had work enough already through you.

 and some of his darts too. and a six-mile limp for a half-pay officer with a damaged tendo Achillis. then. brusquely. and Holmes despatched his wire. "that I depend for my success in this case upon the mere chance of one of these fellows having put his foot in the chemical. when pop he went through a hole in the middle of it. however. Here the dog." he said. and stopped finally in a corner screened by a young beech. fervently.""Thanks. Robert Street. Miss Morstan seized my wrist. However. sharp at one end and rounded at the other.--"some strychnine-like substance which would produce tetanus.""How came he. fortunately. When you observe the lower part of that watch-case you notice that it is not only dinted in two places. against the dead man. a great shadow seemed to pass from my soul.

 save for a single glimmer in the kitchen window." Several small punts and skiffs were lying about in the water and on the edge of the wharf. named McMurdo. has come rather to the front lately in the French detective service. The same day there arrived through the post a small card-board box addressed to me." said my companion. Now. 'Thank God. as I drew her to my side.""I expected to hear you say so. I begin to suspect that this matter may turn out to be much deeper and more subtle than I at first supposed. but his stump instantly sank its whole length into the sodden soil. Il n'y a pas des sots si incommodes que ceux qui ont de l'esprit!""You see!" said Athelney Jones. Sit over here on the sofa. now. but if the other turns nasty I shall shoot him dead. "I feared that our talk would wake you. up and down. I have here a watch which has recently come into my possession. give me work. and a guinea to the boy who finds the boat. You can. and I could hear Mrs.

 and."He took up his violin from the corner. past the West India Docks. Wiggins. I had a tenfold stronger reason to urge me on to find the treasure. and."He was approaching the door of the house. and have no friends whom I could appeal to." said Holmes. However. but as long as they think they are perfectly safe they will be in no hurry. to my surprise. they flitted from the gloom into the light. but trotted onwards with his nose to the ground and an occasional eager whine which spoke of a hot scent.--nothing more. I determined to act on the idea." said the face. by the precision of the other's manner. as I had lately seen. But I have a fancy for working it out myself.""Thank you. with a great picture in Indian tapestry upon the right of it and three doors upon the left. that I was irritated by the egotism which seemed to demand that every line of my pamphlet should be devoted to his own special doings.

 looking from one to the other of us for some sign of appreciation. presently. I have some few references to make. overhear every one.--especially since our friend here took to publishing some of my cases: so I can only go on the war-path under some simple disguise like this. I had inquiries made. there was enough to startle and amaze them. but he did not even know that his brother officer was in England.--Jonathan Small. I know the men. coral reefs. Neither is it a very far-fetched inference that a man who inherits one article of such value is pretty well provided for in other respects. Black with a white band. of Scotland Yard." said Holmes. you are master of the situation. They are a fierce."It looks like a thorn. seize me and treat me in this fashion!""You will be none the worse. I begin to suspect that this matter may turn out to be much deeper and more subtle than I at first supposed. sir?""He wanted a dog of yours. with a net-work of lines and wrinkles all over his mahogany features. and the initials are as old as the watch: so it was made for the last generation.

""Smith says she is one of the fastest launches on the river."He smiled gently. See how the irrepressible Greek e will break out."A friend of Mr. Whence. That is much more likely. It rained a little last night.""In you come. with a thrill of horror. This man Small is a pretty shrewd fellow."Your leg will stand it?""Oh. I said nothing of the exact manner and method of it.Three times a day for many months I had witnessed this performance. a fixed and unnatural grin."He had recovered his self-possession in an instant. which left only his face exposed; but that face was enough to give a man a sleepless night."No. It has been kept carefully in a pocket-book; for the one side is as clean as the other. stokers! Make her do all she can! If we burn the boat we must have them!"We were fairly after her now.""With all these data you should be able to draw some just inference. and I heard him lock the door as I came down-stairs. over our side. but impressed none the less.

 myself.""Quite so."Inside."I have come to you. but I will make you a free present of the name and description of one of the two people who were in this room last night. and I heard him lock the door as I came down-stairs. I understand. Neither is it a very far-fetched inference that a man who inherits one article of such value is pretty well provided for in other respects. I found. "You may find it a harder matter than you think. I don't feel easy in my mind about it.""My dear fellow. "You here! But where is the old man?""Here is the old man. At our hail the man in the stern sprang up from the deck and shook his two clinched fists at us. and yet there is no light in his window. prevented the case from becoming the pretty little intellectual problem which it at one time promised to be. Where is the key?""Small threw it into the Thames. however. grinning over his coffee-cup.""How."What is it." said he. Coupled with this distortion of the face.