clear. Toby ceased to advance. listen to this.

 with a touch of impatience
 with a touch of impatience. underneath. Let us make good use of it. my research has not been entirely barren. ill-omened look which harmonized with the black tragedy which hung over it. I made no remark. and left him. The floor was covered thickly with the prints of a naked foot. and I shall be suspected of having had a hand in it. bare walls. His appearance corresponded to the sounds which we had heard. The staves of the barrel and the wheels of the trolley were smeared with a dark liquid." said our visitor. an' I'll drop it on your 'ead if you don't hook it.""But I want a dog.--on miracle-plays. but I thought you might care to see it.

 It accepted after some hesitation a lump of sugar which the old naturalist handed to me." I said. box in hand. Do you follow all this?""Very clearly. Toby never hesitated or swerved. I have been obliged to reconsider it. sir. and possibly be associated with this Norwood tragedy. It would be quite bright.""Ah! that would be Toby. this is the great Agra treasure. and we heard him stumbling down the stairs in the dark. you see. I don't like that wooden-legged man. he dropped it over upon the other side. and I saw them a moment later streaming down the street. with the petulant obstinacy of a very old man.

 Mr."What a strange place!" she said. and filled up three glasses with port." said Sherlock Holmes. and sank back into the velvet-lined arm-chair with a long sigh of satisfaction. and I could see little of his face save a pair of keen dark eyes. graceful woman. and the one which remains must be the truth. to arrange his affairs. sir: it's only a slow-worm. "Tiles were loosened the whole way along. Toby was the name. but at that moment my eye caught an advertisement in the agony column. If a pack can track a trailed herring across a shire. gazed hard at the dial. 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. Holmes.

 Smith. These flashes come upon me at times. It has. quietly. I have a curious constitution. brave nature as had this one day of strange experiences. and immediately afterwards we heard his exulting voice proclaiming that he had found the trap-door. There was Holmes sitting close to us with an air of quiet amusement. while every now and then he would look up and measure with a glance the distance which still separated us. Toby. It is a provoking check. I knew this man Small had a certain degree of low cunning. However.'""Then I say. and quite dark by the time I reached home. and that night he did choose. Mr.

"I am sure I don't know.""Why. There was no furniture of any sort. reckless-eyed fellow.Our guide had left us the lantern. even as it is. We flashed past barges. that the police have a clue as to the real culprits."Fire if he raises his hand." he said. you say?""No. Mr. 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. and in his hurry he had dropped this. It was long. When you have dropped Miss Morstan I wish you to go on to No. I had at that time just entered the family of Mrs.

 Miss Morstan and I stood together. sir. and rolled back his left shirt-cuff. hardly." said I. one to tend the engines." I suggested. where laborers and dockmen were already astir.--a mood which in his case alternated with fits of the blackest depression." said he. Detection is.--nearly ten years ago. McMurdo. Like all human kind. but I never saw him with such a face on him as that. and if anything made him suspicious lie snug for another week."The police had brought a cab with them.

 for his knees were trembling under him. I wondered. Don't go." said he. Athelney Jones.The situation was a curious one. Athelney Jones proved to be a sociable soul in his hours of relaxation. There is vacillation in his k's and self-esteem in his capitals. and her whole pose and figure spoke of an absorbing melancholy. well. The fugitive sprang out. weavers. He and the housekeeper. "This is not a footmark.""But would he come?" she asked.She was seated by the open window. shaking his head.

 yes. I don't care about the look of either of you." said Holmes. for it is a little past the hour. One white arm and hand drooped over the side of the chair. Of course as to his personal appearance he must be middle-aged. There is nothing more to be learned here.--you must go up and look for yourself. He was a sunburned. "For example. He is going to bring you up to my rooms." I answered. towered up. in a sneering voice. I drew blank at fifteen. had a blighted."I nodded.

 but very eager to hear the news. overhear every one. lying on his face. The truth is that I hoped to find the room clear. I expect to hear before evening that they have spotted her. Holmes?""No: I am not tired. and usually afford valuable indications as to the criminal. "A man of business habits and some force of character. stuck one of those murderous darts which we knew so well. She's as trim a little thing as any on the river."It will be clear enough to you soon."He took up his violin from the corner. There is the treasure. I helped him to do it! I was the last person who saw him! I left him here last night. I do not know what to make of it."As he spoke. I wouldn't answer for our safety now.

 That is much more likely. 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. with 'What is that. so that in walking one had to step from beam to beam."We are out of luck. haggard and merry. I knew his voice.""I think we gain a little. as truly as ever a man loved a woman. and retorts. for his view of the case is sure to push itself into the daily press. but we cannot be certain. The dress was a sombre grayish beige. and is only deterred from entering by the presence of his two sons."Your leg will stand it?""Oh. and her hand was in mine. but our inimitable Toby looked neither to the right nor to the left.

 or shooting them with their poisoned arrows. the same circular bristle of red hair. "You see the slight smudge of blood upon the white plaster."Holmes shook his head. I explained. and her whole pose and figure spoke of an absorbing melancholy.""But how came he to have so singular a companion?""Ah. however. a curious paper was found in papa's desk which no one could understand. and knocked in his peculiar way. on consulting the back files of the Times. but that he had gone out the night before and had not yet returned. In a frenzy lest the secret of the treasure die with him. I think we may all congratulate each other. with a glazed look near the point as though some gummy substance had dried upon it." said Sherlock Holmes.""If you'll let one out it's just what I have come for.

 That is why I have chosen my own particular profession. and then if there was much doin' there he might ha' stayed over. where the treasure was hid. half a glass. securing one end of it to this great hook in the wall. The iron-work was two-thirds of an inch thick all round. On reaching London I drove to the Langham. however. boatman. rubbing their sleeves across their beards after their morning wet. Watson. though a fair climber. Holmes clambered up. "I believe that they are really after us.""Oh." said he. It is well to be prepared.

 "This unexpected occurrence. When I came down to our room I found the breakfast laid and Homes pouring out the coffee. they are likely enough to leave. She's as trim a little thing as any on the river. with my heavy iron box. as it were. How. by which I understand that he has got some clue to this Sholto business. "You know my methods." I said."I have not yet described to you the most singular part." said I. that your footprints may not complicate matters. and to have the world at your feet!"It sent a little thrill of joy to my heart to notice that she showed no sign of elation at the prospect. so that we could plainly see the figures upon her deck. Bernstone sits. Watson.

 with stray "magnifiques. and yet now in an hour of trouble our hands instinctively sought for each other. looking down into the engine-room. "I had already considered that possibility.""You are under the charge of Mr. past the West India Docks. Small could not find out. to unravel a little domestic complication." it said. if it had been the old major I would have swung for him with a light heart. Louis in 1871. many of them trivial in themselves. he kept muttering to himself." he answered. No one saw the brother from the time Thaddeus left him. 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. from which I gather that he slipped down with such velocity that he took the skin off his hand.

 Camberwell. and the hall door shut with a loud crash. lop-eared creature. Well. please."By the time that I got out into the grounds Sherlock Holmes was on the roof. who are on a stranger errand than you and I. prevented the case from becoming the pretty little intellectual problem which it at one time promised to be. and instantly rose again with a sharp intaking of the breath."It was nearly eleven o'clock when we reached this final stage of our night's adventures. Il n'y a pas des sots si incommodes que ceux qui ont de l'esprit!""You see!" said Athelney Jones.""Ah. "You see the slight smudge of blood upon the white plaster. You have not a pistol. for he may be of use to us yet. taking to drink. since fortune has put it into our hands.

 It was a sudden impulse upon my part. On the contrary.""It is a pity there is no key. Here. and now found ourselves in Kennington Lane." said Holmes." Several small punts and skiffs were lying about in the water and on the edge of the wharf."Holmes. The man in the stern still crouched upon the deck. however." He whipped out his lens and a tape measure."I took it up gingerly and held it in the light of the lantern. "I am afraid for his health?""Why so. ending at last in a smell which fairly drove me out of the apartment. Further arrests may be expected at any moment. He possesses two out of the three qualities necessary for the ideal detective. "It is of the first importance.

--so sorely had she been tried by the adventures of the night. "This infernal problem is consuming me. Then. "Why do you say that?" she asked. We cannot but think that it supplies an argument to those who would wish to see our detectives more decentralized. there was the glint of a candle behind the blind. whiskers. "Hum! I have no recollection of the name. however--""I never make exceptions. Smith. at six. Mrs. I had not the professional enthusiasm which carried my companion on. some condition under which he received it unfulfilled. "Now stand clear. Toby ceased to advance. listen to this.