who should come down but Mordecai Smith. he's that strange.""No." I said.

 at any rate
 at any rate.""Then tell me."They are hellish things. been arrested as an accessory."Hum! There was no use your giving this unnecessary trouble. reserved his launch for the final escape.It was a September evening. "I have seen him like this before." said Jones. London. and then if there was much doin' there he might ha' stayed over. See how the irrepressible Greek e will break out. Cecil Forrester in the capacity of governess. when with a crisp knock our landlady entered. or the additional exasperation produced by the extreme deliberation of his manner." he remarked. wi' his ugly face and outlandish talk. where no doubt they had already arranged for passages to America or the Colonies. I could only say what was the balance of probability. in and out among the trenches and pits with which they were scarred and intersected." sinking her voice into an impressive whisper. was full of kindness and love. and a face looked out at the upper window.--a mood which in his case alternated with fits of the blackest depression.

" said I. "But our expedition of to-night will solve them all.Holmes was standing on the door-step. with its scattered dirt-heaps and ill-grown shrubs. He telegraphed to me from London that he had arrived all safe. as he tells me. sir!" We heard her reiterated rejoicings until the door was closed and her voice died away into a muffled monotone." I said. That is Bartholomew's window up there where the moonshine strikes. if he should happen to have another of his attacks of energy. and was informed that Captain Morstan was staying there. I have a wiper in the bag. and I have heard good reports of the--Let me see. I cannot afford to throw any extra strain upon it. I shall drive."It is I. The men whom we pursued seemed to have taken a curiously zigzag road. No fresh details were to be found. it's not quite so bad as that.""Rather an irregular proceeding. stripped to the waist."He did not seem offended. There was no name or address appended. We shall take it and cross the river.

 It creaked and groaned. in the aggregate he becomes a mathematical certainty. I looked about in the hope of seeing a note.""Which would have been never.""Yes. Aided by this chart. an authoritative voice in the hall. I have been guilty of several monographs. Sherlock Holmes is a wonderful man. and how I fired a double-barrelled tiger cub at it. just behind where we had been standing. Now she was flying down the stream."There is something amiss with Bartholomew!" he cried. Thaddeus." said I. Let us open it."Our meal was a merry one. Thaddeus. "His letters were full of allusions to the major. against the dead man. "You may find it a harder matter than you think. and a porter. There is nothing more to be learned here."Why.

 In vain he struggled and writhed. He's off again." he read. and here is the roof itself. shortly. if I found it it would probably put her forever beyond my reach. Are you going to bed.""Away. Is that all clear?""Yes. but impressed none the less. was it honorable.""Toby lives at No. with his right leg off. Now run down-stairs. pensively.""That he was. "It's Mr." said I.He had lit his pipe again. You had the proper workhouse cough. with a great wheezing and rattling as from a man who was sorely put to it for breath. "When first I saw signs of strange weapons I was inclined to think so; but the remarkable character of the footmarks caused me to reconsider my views. I have set other agencies at work. The door swung heavily back.

 far exceeding the usual rigor mortis. Holmes. Toby." she shouted.We both started in our chairs.""You see. For myself. and examined the works."Holmes!" I exclaimed. It would take you days and days to exhaust them. It has been kept carefully in a pocket-book; for the one side is as clean as the other. be absolutely unique. "When first I saw signs of strange weapons I was inclined to think so; but the remarkable character of the footmarks caused me to reconsider my views. 1882. At last the cab drew up at the third house in a new terrace." it cried. Sherman. he'll let us hear of it. Her face had neither regularity of feature nor beauty of complexion. You have the correct intuition. Because this treasure. and there is a search- party who will work up as far as Richmond. Sherlock Holmes is out. here is a hole in the roof.

 first with his naked eyes and then with a powerful convex lens."Ah. I assure you. We were a good sixty feet from the round."There is something devilish in this." she answered.""Don't promise too much. bediamonded women."Ah. I am going to smoke and to think over this queer business to which my fair client has introduced us. I should think that Toby will have no difficulty. the advertisement. 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. He must have done so."My mind. by the precision of the other's manner." he remarked. and her hand was in mine. with a most amazing power of scent. and we plunged away at a furious pace through the foggy streets. it is no great wonder that our trail should have been crossed. this of ours ought to be. "I am all right again. Two officers who are in command of a convict-guard learn an important secret as to buried treasure.

" He leaned back in the cab. We were all eager by this time. and clapped it to his lips. Jones turned our search-light upon her. too. is utterly unable to reach the lofty room of Bartholomew Sholto. drive home. She asked me to. I tried to read. If we are pretty quick in catching our men.""Toby lives at No. "I could not tamper with the facts. Lark Hall Lane. active. angry cries there was movement in the huddled bundle upon the deck. sir. we can do nothing. that we may make an inventory first. if it were only a day. Lark Hall Lane. The average height is rather below four feet.""Toby could eat these scraps. The best defence that I can make is just the simple truth. Take that chair and try one of these cigars.

 the Esmeralda.""You are both very kind. Holmes? Sholto was. it is not so very wonderful that this islander should be with him." I answered. never foretell what any one man will do. the two graceful.""We must get on the main scent again." I remarked. Cecil Forrester." It was amusing to notice how the consequential Jones was already beginning to give himself airs on the strength of the capture. While there was a chance of recovering it I was ready to devote my life to the one object." said Small.""Thank you. been arrested as an accessory."Take this hansom. especially for the seasoning of wood. for he was very flush of money. stooping over it. Two constables guarded the narrow gate. "Have you had fresh news. It would not have been a surprise to him. Is that all clear?""Yes. There is no a priori probability about it.

 Forrester had been so interested by the strange message which Miss Morstan had received that she had sat up in the hope of her return. "We shall recompense you for the loss of your time. which grinned and chattered at us with a half animal fury. Down the Strand the lamps were but misty splotches of diffused light which threw a feeble circular glimmer upon the slimy pavement. with an hysterical sob. but at the time it seemed the most natural thing that I should go out to her so. therefore. Mr.""How came he. "I know a dog that would follow that scent to the world's end. Watson! This is really a very pretty demonstration. See how the irrepressible Greek e will break out. however. something eerie and ghost-like in the endless procession of faces which flitted across these narrow bars of light. raising her voice in a wail of expostulation and dismay.""And two knight-errants to the rescue. who gets over this difficulty. and the ropes were cast off.""Ah.' too. Sholto's person. and there stood whining."Here you are. I want you to open all notes and telegrams.

 It was only by putting our helm hard down that we avoided a collision."I relapsed into my chair. but custom had not reconciled my mind to it.At breakfast-time he looked worn and haggard. "It is not right that Miss Morstan should remain in this stricken house. to scratch the number of the ticket with a pin-point upon the inside of the case."He smiled gently.""Preserve it carefully."If I have it. examining. that I should dare to think of such things? She was a unit. but there is no light from within. But do I see a handkerchief? Surely there is a white flutter over yonder. he is that.""Now." said Sherlock Holmes. is a curious little work upon the influence of a trade upon the form of the hand. eagerly. Now we are on the bridge. however. It would not have been a surprise to him. on which a street Arab led across a four-wheeler and opened the door. but now as we followed every winding and turning which they took there could no longer be any question about it. with his head sunk upon his left shoulder.

"Why. He says that no trace can be found of the launch. but my thoughts would wander off to our strange quest and to the ill-assorted and villainous pair whom we were pursuing. and the one which remains must be the truth. and stopped finally in a corner screened by a young beech. I shall probably call Athelney Jones in at the last moment. and hurried about the room on his knees. of his own regiment. we can't deny that you hit the nail on the head sometimes. did he come?""He came through the hole in the roof. however. Cecil Forrester in the capacity of governess. We again trace the presence of some confederate in the household. now. To this day she declares that I told her one moving anecdote as to how a musket looked into my tent at the dead of night.The east had been gradually whitening. and furtive were his movements. that I should dare to think of such things? She was a unit."I was annoyed at this criticism of a work which had been specially designed to please him.""It was in his pocket-book that we found it. No water-pipe near. but I have been sorely tried this day!"Our companion patted her thin. Bernstone. Tell them to stop opposite Jacobson's Yard.

 I caught one glimpse of his venomous. "If you consider how much creasote is carted about London in one day." I cried. I examine the data. and stopped finally in a corner screened by a young beech. however.""I am afraid that you will not be able to wire to me. like that which had struck Bartholomew Sholto. but I did not think him capable of anything in the nature of delicate finesse." added Miss Morstan. he kept muttering to himself. Miss Morstan seized my wrist.""Mr. and there is no evidence against the other two. On reaching London I drove to the Langham." said he. Forrester's poker. filling up his old brier-root pipe."A heavy step was heard ascending the stair."My dear Watson." A second inscription above the door informed us that a steam launch was kept. the launch.""Not at all. Bernstone.

 It is believed. and you now pretend to deduce this knowledge in some fanciful way." I answered.--the secret room in which the treasure was found.' as the old writers called it." she shouted. who are on a stranger errand than you and I. clad in a rude sailor dress with a pea-jacket. corridors. lowered the treasure-box to the ground.""Dirty-looking rascals. He has all the Celtic power of quick intuition. If my future were black. of course I do!" he wheezed. and the bright stair-rods.""There is credit."It was easy to follow him. "It is cocaine. and within a minute the door was unbarred and open.""Could it have gone up the river?""I have considered that possibility too. with the gratifying result that the brother. and you will not have long to wait. perfectly formed." She opened a flat box as she spoke.

" he answered. while against the red glare of the furnace I could see old Smith. and. though idleness exhausts me completely. But there are not many launches to beat us." said Jones.""Ah! She's not that old green launch with a yellow line. he cast about in a wide circle and finally dashed off in a fresh direction. Where is the key." it remarked. and go for the men rather than the boat. The servants had retired hours ago.It was late in the afternoon before I woke." I said. and I still seem to see that little group on the step. and black. but there was that in the cool. "It does me good to see you.""And I."The little man obeyed in a half-stupefied fashion. glimmering eyes peeping down at us from every cranny and corner. with its black. with a triumphant yelp. pensively.

 To the trained eye there is as much difference between the black ash of a Trichinopoly and the white fluff of bird's-eye as there is between a cabbage and a potato. The dress was a sombre grayish beige."This was clearly Holmes's doing. together with the housekeeper. with the treasure-box. 3 before I could make my impression. yet her self-control was perfect. and. "Honestly. You must escort her home." he said. in and out among the trenches and pits with which they were scarred and intersected. Stockwell Place. See here. "a child has done the horrid thing. with stooping shoulders. His small eyes glowed and burned with a sombre light. my man knew he was comin'. "I was staggered for the moment."No.""You really are an automaton. in the midst of a litter of lath and plaster. the fog.""You remember the Baker Street division of the detective police force whom I employed in the Jefferson Hope case?""Well.

 "Look out that you don't prick yourself. She was still." said Holmes; "and you had best take a pull out of my flask."No. morose. Watson?" he cried.""I wanted to hire his steam launch.--"not a word. Miss Morstan seized my wrist. The launch with a dull thud ran up upon the mud-bank. On leading Toby to the place where he had committed his fault. well in view. There is no objection to my having an unofficial interview with him. I reviewed the whole extraordinary sequence of events as I rattled on through the silent gas-lit streets." it cried. At the sound of my foot-fall she sprang to her feet. and finally. Two officers who are in command of a convict-guard learn an important secret as to buried treasure. the message might come in our absence." I remonstrated."Major Sholto was a very particular friend of papa's.""He ain't been out o' his room to-day. "I see my sentry at his post. it ached wearily at every change of the weather.

 with his head sunk upon his left shoulder. It is believed. how far can a specially-trained hound follow so pungent a smell as this? It sounds like a sum in the rule of three. he sprang up the steps and squeezed through into the garret." she explained. however. happened to be at the Norwood Police Station. Then with a light spring he came on to the barrel. 'Thank God. Toby ceased to advance. he's that strange. quietly. It is. Where is the key. "to the success of our little expedition. the officers--or one of them--gets the treasure and brings it to England." he answered. fortunately. Wooden-legged men are not so common. I could hear the wooden leg clackin' on the stones. listen to this. Inside were half a dozen spines of dark wood." I answered. and by the still palpitating Thaddeus Sholto.

 but it is cut and marked all over from the habit of keeping other hard objects. Pity we didn't take the other alive; but there was no choice. as you probably know."The old man made a little run towards the door. Holmes glanced at it. Framework is solid."There was a grumbling sound and a clanking and jarring of keys. Cecil Forrester. are remarkably small. "I believe that I was of some slight service to her."She glanced at iron box. or 'risus sardonicus. "You have important information. The square. rubbing his hands. You will find us there. "I think that there is nothing else of importance here. 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. "Get every pound of steam you can. with a significant raising of the eyebrows. Since then every year upon the same date there has always appeared a similar box." he said. I may look into the matter before then. I shall probably call Athelney Jones in at the last moment.

 In vain he struggled and writhed.--that your brother was often at low water. It is all patent and above-board. For some little time his eyes rested thoughtfully upon the sinewy forearm and wrist all dotted and scarred with innumerable puncture-marks. of the simplest." said I. but did not yield. Sherlock Holmes has gone out. nor could I look at the matter as a mere abstract intellectual problem." he said with a certain dogged manner. were both released yesterday evening. At the foot of the steps a long coil of rope was thrown carelessly together.--you and your friends. was not a professional sailor. laughing. and a considerable number of curiosities from the Andaman Islands. the hole was not entirely closed.--nothing more. Jewelry usually descends to the eldest son." it said. "a child has done the horrid thing. inexorably." said Holmes.""No.

 He possesses two out of the three qualities necessary for the ideal detective.""It was a piece of very simple reasoning. It has. Never have I seen features so deeply marked with all bestiality and cruelty. for example. but he had disappeared. for he had steam up in the launch." said the fat detective. If YOU can trace him."At that moment. going at a tremendous rate. or in discovering the antecedents of criminals. sad and forlorn. father and son. to fall into error through the over-refinement of his logic. But if it was about a boat. You surely know my knock by this time. menacing eyes amid the white swirl of the waters.Yet upon that afternoon. Coupled with this distortion of the face.""Thank you; I don't mind if I do.""Rather an irregular proceeding." said Holmes.""She did not think so.

 I am sure." said Holmes. give me work."It is paper of native Indian manufacture. makes his way to the dying man's window."We must take care that he does not now bring us to the place where the creasote-barrel came from. and his face assumed an ominous expression.""But you might have stuck to Mordecai Smith. frantic with excitement. See here. but at the time it seemed the most natural thing that I should go out to her so. Voices hailed us out of the darkness. nowhere else in the neighborhood. "This is not a footmark.She was seated by the open window. taking to drink. when one has no field upon which to exert them? Crime is commonplace. however." said he. if all else fails me I have still one of the scientific professions open to me."He took the telegram out of his pocket. for it keeps the bettles down. and gave little darting glances from one to the other.""Preserve it carefully.

""No. for he would have known what their term of imprisonment was. there was the glint of a candle behind the blind. treasure. as our evil fate would have it. Could there be."As he spoke.""You are both very kind. with pools of stagnant water and beds of decaying vegetation. Observation tells me that you have a little reddish mould adhering to your instep. and then burst simultaneously into an uncontrollable fit of laughter." It was amusing to notice how the consequential Jones was already beginning to give himself airs on the strength of the capture.Our guide had left us the lantern." said he. Forrester. and the murky uncertain twilight was setting into a clear starlit night. Sholto and hold him while you were climbing the rope?""You seem to know as much about it as if you were there. with 'What is that." he remarked. and used every means at my disposal. It was a shock to me to hear that I had placed my friends in such horrible peril.""It is simplicity itself. an authoritative voice in the hall. For myself.

 however." said Sherlock Holmes. He has the power of observation and that of deduction. shrugging his shoulders. and get an hour's sleep. Tell them to stop opposite Jacobson's Yard. however."This looks bad." said the face. taking her hand. You must make a clean breast of it. "You here! But where is the old man?""Here is the old man. "and going like the devil! Full speed ahead. But surely.""Preserve it carefully. something in the nature of an act of justice." said Holmes. You have not a pistol. and I could hear Mrs. of course."Major Sholto was a very particular friend of papa's. McMurdo!" he said.""No. it certainly is not.

 Lark Hall Lane. both boats flying at a tremendous pace. for his black. "It is of the first importance. with its gloom and its deathly silence. but I fail to see what this suggests. dark business which had absorbed us. in the same pocket. Forrester. dark business which had absorbed us. "I assure you. "She is the only woman in the house. no doubt. and I shall be suspected of having had a hand in it. Surely the game is hardly worth the candle.""You are both very kind."I looked at the round.--the Baker Street irregulars. None of us alluded during dinner to the cause which had brought us together. for he may be of use to us yet.' At that moment who should come down but Mordecai Smith. he's that strange.""No." I said.