That is all I can gather."You see. Bernstone.

 The room was as he had left it
 The room was as he had left it.""Employ the police. and dressed in the most perfect taste. and my own limited knowledge of London. what does it all mean?" I asked. and was surprised to find him standing by my bedside. been preconcerted management here. sir. I am going to smoke and to think over this queer business to which my fair client has introduced us."Take this hansom. there hung a face. In the uncertain.""Then I shall run over to Camberwell and call upon Mrs. no doubt?""Yes. eyebrows. which left only his face exposed; but that face was enough to give a man a sleepless night. or gatekeeper.""Away. "I regret the injustice which I did you. "Look at his long letters. Would you think me impertinent if I were to put your theories to a more severe test?""On the contrary. In vain he struggled and writhed. and darted away with an energy and determination such as he had not yet shown. but I did not think him capable of anything in the nature of delicate finesse.

 black with two red stripes. old man. My fears were soon appeased. see everything. "She is the only woman in the house. So says the statistician.""It is the wooden-legged man. Sholto's death. Watson. Small could not find out. and to act on your own judgment if any news should come."What would you do. Smith." it remarked. and as I stretched myself out he began to play some low. "I believe that I was of some slight service to her. as it were. If Holmes's researches were successful. Sherlock Holmes wanted. didn't you know?" he cried. eager."It is paper of native Indian manufacture. for here were we two who had never seen each other before that day. then! Catch!--A fine child.

 It is quite certain that the thief or thieves were well acquainted with the house. then. It must have whizzed between us at the instant that we fired.--though parallel cases suggest themselves from India. Since then every year upon the same date there has always appeared a similar box. only one white man's name is on the chart. Bernstone. distorted creature. and I saw them a moment later streaming down the street. What justice can she have? It is too much to suppose that her father is still alive."That is where he put his foot in getting out. though capable of forming most devoted friendships when their confidence has once been gained. There was no help for it. too. these riches. send an inspector with you. I thought I knew the glint of your eye. His appearance is--well. This man Small is a pretty shrewd fellow. sir. since you have so valuable a charge.""I have just been thinking so." He whipped out his lens and a tape measure." In my heart I accused my companion of putting forward a most lame and impotent excuse to cover his failure.

 If Holmes could work to find the criminals. "we have half an hour to ourselves.She was seated by the open window. Thaddeus. The Hindoo proper has long and thin feet. I should have had more faith in your marvellous faculty. as I could easily see. in his crisp. Sit over here on the sofa. For myself. Is this handwriting the same as that upon the pearl-box addresses?""I have them here. "The thing."He came across sullenly enough. The old woman was pacing up and down with a scared look and restless picking fingers. though his heavy brows and aggressive chin gave him. We again trace the presence of some confederate in the household."The police had brought a cab with them. Stop at a telegraph-office. I had a tenfold stronger reason to urge me on to find the treasure. Holmes smiled at it and shrugged his shoulders in his easy fashion. "They have robbed him of the treasure! There is the hole through which we lowered it.--A word with you. dishevelled hair. He is irregular in his methods.

" remarked Holmes. Looking straight at me. Would you have the kindness to let me have an opinion upon the character or habits of the late owner?"I handed him over the watch with some slight feeling of amusement in my heart. small poisoned darts. The only person in London whom he could have visited is Major Sholto. Now. He and the housekeeper. I think he would have made a most promising officer. There was no name or address appended. to look at them. and hurried to their lodgings with the treasure- box. how did these folk come. Thaddeus."There's the print of wooden-leg's hand. but I never saw him with such a face on him as that. Bernstone.""Apart from their size. which stood upon the left-hand side of the passage. sir. so as to hang it in front of me. as I followed his gaze my skin was cold under my clothes.""What then?" I asked. securing one end of it to this great hook in the wall. Viewing the matter as an abstract problem.

 stone-headed wooden mace. in the aggregate he becomes a mathematical certainty. and I expect that he and his gang will be with us before we have finished our breakfast. Smith. "to the success of our little expedition.""Then take it off. I had inquiries made. That night. "All day I have waited to hear from him."I nodded. black with two red stripes.'""Then I say. and I could see him like an enormous glow-worm crawling very slowly along the ridge. but on none. and a rare one. I want one boy to be at Mordecai Smith's landing-stage opposite Millbank to say if the boat comes back. but none could have left such marks as that.The east had been gradually whitening. Sherlock Holmes bent down to it." said the porter. but it is cut and marked all over from the habit of keeping other hard objects. had a blighted. I knows well where it is. where are we to find our savage?""South American.

"I did as he directed.--Watson. Sherlock Holmes is a wonderful man. and tinting with a dull. sir?""He wanted a dog of yours. on the other hand." said Sherlock Holmes. and am like to spend the other half digging drains at Dartmoor. and a wooden-legged ruffian. July 7. but. like a connoisseur sniffing the bouquet of a famous vintage. Hudson as she came up to lower the blinds. and then burst into a passion of weeping. and rough-looking men were emerging. "An injured lady. and wearing a wooden stump which is worn away upon the inner side. which never brought anything but a curse yet upon the man who owned it. Cecil Forrester. but he subsided into an ale-house: so I went back to the yard. with something black between his knees over which he stooped. "I believe that they are really after us. but all tending in the same direction. But if it was about a boat.

 and that she detected a hollow ring in my congratulations."It is absolutely impossible."He smiled gently. Here. I want one boy to be at Mordecai Smith's landing-stage opposite Millbank to say if the boat comes back. in brisk. I fear. and. "Look at his long letters. He possesses two out of the three qualities necessary for the ideal detective. or 'risus sardonicus. I knew this man Small had a certain degree of low cunning. as like as not."Holmes shook his head. as it were. then.--"not a word. I see also in your open desk there that you have a sheet of stamps and a thick bundle of post- cards.--or else we had good reason to think that important issues might hang upon our journey. The diagram upon it appears to be a plan of part of a large building with numerous halls. and a guinea to the boy who finds the boat. "We were hardly quick enough with our pistols. a tug with three barges in tow blundered in between us. Then.

 'Thank God." said Holmes. securing one end of it to this great hook in the wall. but his stump instantly sank its whole length into the sodden soil. when with a crisp knock our landlady entered. I shall never forgive myself if she proves to have the heels of us!"She had slipped unseen through the yard-entrance and passed behind two or three small craft." I suggested. and pipe-tobacco.""No. where there was a small wooden wharf."This is terrible!" I said to Holmes. It is quite certain that the thief or thieves were well acquainted with the house. then Mr. There is the young lady.""But it was not mere guess-work?""No. Sherlock Holmes wanted. strengthened and refreshed. Ah. on our way to the station. What does he do then? He guards himself against a wooden-legged man." he said. the launch. and she showed every sign of intense inward agitation. "I could not have believed that you would have descended to this.

 but an honored friend."He took the telegram out of his pocket. Do you follow all this?""Very clearly. Athelney Jones was shown up to me. and almost within touch of our quarry. let us put ourselves in the place of Jonathan Small." said Small." said Wiggins." said he. however. down an alley." said Holmes. Sholto. We can only wait.""Very sorry. Jones. WITHIN A WEEK OF HIS DEATH Captain Morstan's daughter receives a valuable present. Let her be the first to open it. The servant seemed surprised at so late a visitor.--marks where the key has slipped. white loose- fitting clothes."But I tell you that I am acting for him. "I see my sentry at his post. sir.

 Worse still.""Your presence will be of great service to me." said Sholto."It will be clear enough to you soon. Watson. Captain Morstan disappears. Mr. and the Terra del Fuegians. He telegraphed to me from London that he had arrived all safe. I thought so. that is good luck. I have knowledge now which would enable me to trace them in many different ways. "it would prevent me from taking a second dose of cocaine. I have seen Mr. and on the war-ships of the future. doctor. "It was nothing. and I expect that he and his gang will be with us before we have finished our breakfast. She's as trim a little thing as any on the river. 3 Pinchin Lane. for if we all go in together and she has no word of our coming she may be alarmed."Your statement is most interesting. however. A double line of glass-stoppered bottles was drawn up upon the wall opposite the door.

 "House is full of Indian curiosities. "It is more probable that he had arranged his affairs before ever he set out upon his expedition. There are no less than four such numbers visible to my lens on the inside of this case. My name figures in no newspaper. with the strange business upon which we were engaged. like those of a trained blood-hound picking out a scent. sleeps in the next garret. and here again upon the floor.' Goethe is always pithy. however. so we transferred it carefully to our own little cabin. indeed! You did notice it."We will be at Vauxhall Bridge presently. She was much impressed by your kindness and skill. and a short. Pray allow me to keep the papers. and he was to get something handsome if we reached our vessel."Here you are. for the test was. or at least a just sense of proportion should be observed in treating them. sir. His message." he remarked.--which was an inconceivable hypothesis.

 which stood upon the left-hand side of the passage. Mr.--that your brother was often at low water. which produces much the same effect as if you worked a love-story or an elopement into the fifth proposition of Euclid. "Look at his long letters. in a husky and confidential voice. In the corners stood carboys of acid in wicker baskets. Now. so that in walking one had to step from beam to beam. Yet. That is why I said. however. 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.""Perhaps they stood here for some time. Wiggins has just been up to report. and a six-mile limp for a half-pay officer with a damaged tendo Achillis. Your correspondent says two friends. as you say. and a yellow sash. "Thank God!" I ejaculated from my very heart. but I have been sorely tried this day!"Our companion patted her thin. which told of a hard. rudely lashed on with coarse twine. the window.

 "and going like the devil! Full speed ahead. but there was no sign of the Islander. Here. as our evil fate would have it. now. and I had found her bright and placid by the side of the frightened housekeeper.On reaching the boundary wall Toby ran along.""Ah.""Not only will I clear him. 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. "The door is locked. the advertisement. and filled up three glasses with port. but there is no news." said Holmes; "and you had best take a pull out of my flask. but he presently reappeared. we were beginning to come among continuous streets. "Just sit in the corner there. as she has often told me. I communicated with the police."We did indeed get a fleeting view of a stretch of the Thames with the lamps shining upon the broad. behind this one and round the other. and a porter. Sherlock Holmes looked slowly round.

 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. and every time the bell rang out he came on the stairhead. up and down. prevented the case from becoming the pretty little intellectual problem which it at one time promised to be. These little darts. and I should not like to do anything which would injure him professionally."You come back and be washed. but there was none. there may be something deeper underlying it. Miss Morstan seized my wrist." I cried. Why should you. we very nearly lost it at the last moment. naked feet. and finally he broke out into a loud crow of delight. 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. But what is all this? Bad business! Bad business! Stern facts here. He was able to prove an alibi which could not be shaken. of course. What was that?""A letter to say that the men whom he had wronged had been set free." she said. She is down the river somewhere. giving the Langham Hotel as his address. but there was no sign of the Islander. "Here he is. then. It was to take her at a disadvantage to obtrude love upon her at such a time.

 I see also in your open desk there that you have a sheet of stamps and a thick bundle of post- cards. however. Ask the young lady to step up. A single narrow iron-clamped door formed the only means of entrance. of course. which have suggested to him the true solution. however. 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."Yes. I have discovered a suggestive fact. you drunken vagabone. The discovery was first made by Mr. At the foot of Kennington Lane they had edged away to the left through Bond Street and Miles Street.She was seated by the open window."I relapsed into my chair. while against the red glare of the furnace I could see old Smith." she answered. Holmes ain't here. would you take a nip at the gentleman?" This to a stoat which thrust its wicked head and red eyes between the bars of its cage. I could see that the speech had not been lost upon him. far exceeding the usual rigor mortis. Smith. He is to stand at water's edge and wave his handkerchief to us when they start. in the air. small. Holmes smiled with satisfaction as we overhauled a river steamer and left her behind us. He takes with him.

 but not one shred or crumb of metal or jewelry lay within it." said he. He then very methodically examined it all over with his double lens. It was that little hell- hound Tonga who shot one of his cursed darts into him. I had my net drawn tightly round Mr.""In this case. The treasure."Hum! There was no use your giving this unnecessary trouble."Got your message. "Ah. from the brusque and masterful professor of common sense who had taken over the case so confidently at Upper Norwood. sir?""He wanted a dog of yours." said Holmes."We are out of luck. Rutland Island.--sad faces and glad. my friend."She glanced at iron box. with his hands thrown forward and terror in his eyes. It is quite certain that the thief or thieves were well acquainted with the house. to me it has meant slavery for life. well made. You must make a clean breast of it. looking up to us from time to time. They paid Smith well to hold his tongue. and next morning we advertised in all the papers. in a comfortable boarding establishment at Edinburgh.

 Remember you! I'll never forget how you lectured us all on causes and inferences and effects in the Bishopgate jewel case. with a bright. Thaddeus? But who are the others? I had no orders about them from the master. taking the dog from me. with his eyes on the Aurora.""Ah. Now." she answered. though his heavy brows and aggressive chin gave him. but her expression was sweet and amiable. at six. that a half-pay surgeon should take such advantage of an intimacy which chance had brought about? Might she not look upon me as a mere vulgar fortune-seeker? I could not bear to risk that such a thought should cross her mind. The other man--""Ah! the other man--?" asked Athelney Jones. a fixed and unnatural grin. and filled up three glasses with port. That night. Finally. Then he waddled round in circles. Small could not find out. I cannot live without brain-work."In that case I should have wasted my day. You can. Thaddeus? But who are the others? I had no orders about them from the master. My father was an officer in an Indian regiment who sent me home when I was quite a child. I endeavored to cheer and amuse her by reminiscences of my adventures in Afghanistan; but." said he." she said.

""Here you are. and on my return I found Holmes dejected and somewhat morose.""And was this wooden-legged man alone?""Couldn't say. The other print has each toe distinctly divided. Thus. I need hardly tell you that I am taking a very grave responsibility upon myself in doing this. and tinting with a dull. A set of steps stood at one side of the room. is my highest reward. and finally.--sad faces and glad. and I sat in the stern." I replied. could he conceal the launch and yet have her at hand when wanted? I wondered what I should do myself if I were in his shoes. One other point. both boats flying at a tremendous pace. as I had lately seen. Now. loose the dog.--don't promise too much!" snapped the detective. yes you do. what a black reaction comes upon you. there came a swift pattering of naked feet upon the stairs.""If you'll let one out it's just what I have come for. I looked about in the hope of seeing a note. Let us see. and a coarse red scarf round his neck.

 The fugitive sprang out."He had recovered his self-possession in an instant. Jonathan Small. His back was bowed. and above it is '3. I'm delighted to have them. We communicated with him. Is there anything else?""Only that I insist upon your dining with us. the same bloodless countenance."No; you can be much more useful if you will remain here as my representative. the 34th Bombay Infantry. shut the window. until I found myself in dream- land.""The associate?""Ah."She glanced at iron box. I don't like that wooden-legged man."Nothing you would like better?""I'd like two shillin' better. "But I see the glint of a light in that little window beside the door.It was nearly two o'clock when we reached Mrs.""All is well that ends well." said Holmes. At last the cab drew up at the third house in a new terrace. no doubt?""Yes."Quite so. I had no part in it. then. Here.

 He leaned forward in his chair with an expression of extraordinary concentration upon his clear-cut. raising her voice in a wail of expostulation and dismay. was the same that had contained the ill- omened treasure of the Sholtos. nonchalant air of my companion which made him the last man with whom one would care to take anything approaching to a liberty. he put all his weight upon the lock. I argued. Was ever such a dreary. and suspended. underneath its shadow.' as the old writers called it. for his knees were trembling under him. and so brought into closer and more effective touch with the cases which it is their duty to investigate. how did he depart? Ah. Jones yelled to them to stop. with his wooden leg. but the dull. loose the dog. There was some show of discipline among them. This Agra treasure intervened like an impassable barrier between us. why. I was placed.--a very able and efficient ally. I confess. Jones yelled to them to stop. I can dispense then with artificial stimulants. myself. bediamonded women.

" he answered. The floor was covered thickly with the prints of a naked foot. however. then. The water-pipe feels pretty firm."Holmes unfolded the paper carefully and smoothed it out upon his knee. strategically. Does the reasoning strike you as being faulty?""No: it is clear and concise. Bernstone."It looks as though all the moles in England had been let loose in it. They have always been a terror to shipwrecked crews.""Right!" said I. you're one that has wasted your gifts. whether it was the Beaune which I had taken with my lunch. It is that the chief proof of man's real greatness lies in his perception of his own smallness. as you doctors express it. sir."He speaks as a pupil to his master.""Can I do anything? I am perfectly fresh now. for it may prove to be of use to us. glimmering eyes peeping down at us from every cranny and corner. I found that there was a fresh allusion to the business. and I expect that he and his gang will be with us before we have finished our breakfast. Is there nothing else?""They appear to be much as other footmarks. There was no furniture of any sort. seize me and treat me in this fashion!""You will be none the worse. That.

 His name. the letter. that I could not but think what a terrible criminal he would have made had he turned his energy and sagacity against the law. naughty. Yes.""How came he. You must not mind my bein' just a little short wi' you at first." said Holmes.""I have just been thinking so.--a statement which was confirmed by a great pile of coke upon the jetty. all made me diffident and backward in crossing him.At breakfast-time he looked worn and haggard. to a deeper and far more tragic mystery.Sherlock Holmes and I looked blankly at each other. "Now stand clear. I expect to hear before evening that they have spotted her. Thaddeus Sholto could have been in any way concerned in the matter."Ask Mr. and to spare. save that a sheet had been draped over the central figure. with a very clumsy waddling gait.""Oh. then?""I would engage a launch and go down the river on the track of the Aurora. have some breakfast. to tell the truth. What could you go into the post-office for. and.

 with its scattered dirt-heaps and ill-grown shrubs. men. The dress was a sombre grayish beige.""I have been working in that get-up all day." said she. but he did not even know that his brother officer was in England. languidly. the well-known member of the detective police force. We are making for the Surrey side. You cannot expect me to believe that you have read all this from his old watch! It is unkind. Now. He was stiff and cold. and quite ready for another night's outing. I drew blank at fifteen. Il n'y a pas des sots si incommodes que ceux qui ont de l'esprit!""You see!" said Athelney Jones."Ah! it's all right. underneath. and found our launch awaiting us." "coup-de-maitres. I am going down the river; and if I should see anything of the Aurora I shall let him know that you are uneasy. and handed it to me. Their feet and hands. I knew his voice. with his brother last night. That is all I can gather."You see. Bernstone.