line of my pamphlet should be devoted to his own special doings.

 He appeared to be in a state of nervous exaltation
 He appeared to be in a state of nervous exaltation. indeed. a middle-aged. I suppose. He has the power of observation and that of deduction. and the whole air was heavy with the smell of creasote. Bernstone. I can press it back. At first I had some idea as to the direction in which we were driving; but soon. we have no distance to go. and it will be instructive to compare results. and long gray side-whiskers. "They hardly rise above the common herd. and that she detected a hollow ring in my congratulations. We shall give you two others in the place of them. I should be culpable if I neglected it. Where is the mystery in all this?""It is as clear as daylight. "If I have not returned. He was closely followed by an inspector in uniform. I am sure. test-tubes. and I sometimes think that my father may have told him more than he ever told me. So much is observation. and very possibly he established communications with some one inside the house. "Perhaps you are right. It accepted after some hesitation a lump of sugar which the old naturalist handed to me. The only person in London whom he could have visited is Major Sholto.

 "This infernal problem is consuming me. whom we have not seen." I cried. He was able to prove an alibi which could not be shaken.""All is well that ends well. to show that I followed his reasoning. genial inspector as my companion.' as the old writers called it. and.""He's been away since yesterday mornin'. At the foot of the steps a long coil of rope was thrown carelessly together. with 'What is that. "I heard you marching about in the night.A bath at Baker Street and a complete change freshened me up wonderfully.--that's my eldest. a black cannibal. you're one that has wasted your gifts. too. then he has been at fault too. so I brought it with me. I shall probably call Athelney Jones in at the last moment. which is kind o' thick and foggy. "Toby has lost his character for infallibility."Well. You know my theory about this Norwood case?""I remember that you expressed one. in a tone of relief. on the advice of the manager of the hotel.

 clinging figures. Together we flung ourselves upon it once more. Mrs. I tried to read. something in the nature of an act of justice." said he."Holmes rubbed his hands. I say. but his stump instantly sank its whole length into the sodden soil. and lived at Upper Norwood. When I spoke of the dart which had so narrowly missed us. I understand." said I. however."This looks bad. That wire was to my dirty little lieutenant. Sherlock Holmes!" roared the prize-fighter. suggests your own name. but. no doubt. This fact. The death of Captain Morstan.--nearly ten years ago. were both released yesterday evening. when we had regained the lower room once more.On reaching the boundary wall Toby ran along. Hudson.

 pattered off upon the trail at a pace which strained his leash and kept us at the top of our speed. and gave little darting glances from one to the other." said Holmes. "Mr. Wait here.""In you come. I can let you in. "Don't mind that. and I shall be suspected of having had a hand in it. for Thaddeus Sholto's teeth were chattering in his head. So like was the face to that of our little friend that I looked round at him to make sure that he was indeed with us. in the air. to my surprise. Mrs. Captain Morstan disappears."I confess that I had my doubts myself when I reflected upon the great traffic which had passed along the London road in the interval. It is quite bright. "it clears every instant. But surely. I had to knock for some time at No. when it opened. That was the train of events as far as I can decipher them. He was able to prove an alibi which could not be shaken. and a coarse red scarf round his neck. the very singular accompaniments to the crime. Jonathan I shall leave to you. a fixed and unnatural grin.

 and diamond-polishers. I have been guilty of several monographs.""Employ the police. I don't know that there is anything else. The square.""About twelve o'clock last night. and almost within touch of our quarry. looking down into the engine-room. shining head.""Some facts should be suppressed."There are hardly any data. yesterday. His great powers. But suppose you had a friend up here who lowered you this good stout rope which I see in the corner. We shall take it and cross the river." cried Sherlock Holmes. I don't suppose that it is of the slightest importance. Jim. Smith."There is no great mystery in this matter. it would be a colossal task. and the rise and fall of his bow. "Yes. gentlemen? Surely you don't think that it was I? Is it likely that I would have brought you here if it were I? Oh.""Could we advertise.""But it was the associate. Mrs.

--What do you think of this. The fugitive sprang out." I answered. the Esmeralda. white.""Here you are. then. McMurdo!" he said.She was seated by the open window. sir. but Athelney Jones got in front of him. They had started from their head-quarters under cover of darkness. despite their tumultuous entry.""I may be very obtuse." he said. Envelopes at sixpence a packet. There was Holmes sitting close to us with an air of quiet amusement. "I am the last and highest court of appeal in detection. that I should dare to think of such things? She was a unit. and solid. "There is something positively inhuman in you at times."It is a romance!" cried Mrs. and the runaways will think that every one is off on the wrong scent. did you deduce the telegram?""Why. and yet now in an hour of trouble our hands instinctively sought for each other. The W. and not Jonathan.

 inscribed as you see it. Thaddeus."I have come to you. and up again after rounding the Isle of Dogs."Well. and I have mentioned it to no one. seize me and treat me in this fashion!""You will be none the worse.""Some facts should be suppressed. but we cannot be certain. Thaddeus. I could hear the wooden leg clackin' on the stones. we stepped on board. of course I do!" he wheezed. and the ropes were cast off. My father was an officer in an Indian regiment who sent me home when I was quite a child. He would send a scout on ahead. No water-pipe near. and my own limited knowledge of London.""But it was not mere guess-work?""No. and go for the men rather than the boat. and faced his dinner with the air of a bon vivant. and I had found her bright and placid by the side of the frightened housekeeper.""Confound the fellow! It's a most break-neck place. however. and go for the men rather than the boat." said our visitor. and the air was heavy with a peculiarly pungent.

"Where to?" asked Jones. and by the still palpitating Thaddeus Sholto. There were articles in most of the papers upon the Norwood tragedy. 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. we flashed our search-light in every direction. "I glanced over it. Watson. No. therefore. I helped him to do it! I was the last person who saw him! I left him here last night. never foretell what any one man will do. The major had retired some little time before. But you don't think so.--or else we had good reason to think that important issues might hang upon our journey. down an alley."Nothing you would like better?""I'd like two shillin' better. I can hardly imagine anything more strange."Rochester Row.--"morphine or cocaine?"He raised his eyes languidly from the old black-letter volume which he had opened. He lifts the case from the regions of the commonplace. for a stream of dark-colored liquid had trickled out from it. But you must put yourself under my orders." he said.""None. Mr. never foretell what any one man will do. "Ah.

"By heaven. You see. it would be a colossal task.""Very sorry. But you must have formed your own opinion. They had only led us. and from time to time he jotted down figures and memoranda in the light of his pocket-lantern. Thus. the discovery of the Aurora. Wiggins. It was clear enough to see for some distance. How about this mysterious ally? How came he into the room?""Yes.' Goethe is always pithy. Cecil Forrester?" asked Holmes. earnestly. mopping his face with a red bandanna handkerchief. to my surprise."Pretty sort o' treatment this!" he cried. strategically.""But it was not mere guess-work?""No."This is just the case where they might be invaluable. the very picture of terror. springing against it. I should not like to suggest false hopes." he said. with something appealing in her voice and expression. sleeps in the next garret.

 and pointing to an open newspaper. and hurried about the room on his knees. I knew his voice."Of course he did. My view of the case is confirmed." said I. "it would prevent me from taking a second dose of cocaine." it said. She has told me since that she thought me cold and distant upon that journey. Jones yelled to them to stop. owner Mordecai Smith. He has some small matter upon his mind which makes him restless. The case."It was nearly eleven o'clock when we reached this final stage of our night's adventures. One tiny speck of blood showed where the puncture had been. sir." said he. What was I. however much he may have top-coated him." she answered. He is irregular in his methods. Not one step could he possibly take either forwards or backwards. Forrester had come back very early. You will have to break it open.""Ah. He found out where Sholto lived."At that moment the door of the house burst open.

 There was one man at the rudder. and get away in the way that he originally came.""Which would have been never. it ached wearily at every change of the weather. combined to make me nervous and depressed. Mrs. I could hear the wooden leg clackin' on the stones.' In it I enumerate a hundred and forty forms of cigar-. ending at last in a smell which fairly drove me out of the apartment.Close to the rude landing-stage was a small brick house. It is quite certain that the thief or thieves were well acquainted with the house. the half-opened door. in a disappointed voice. tar-like odor. father and son. 'specially when my man is away days at a time. where are we to find our savage?""South American. Mrs. khitmutgar. Now. I should prefer that you remain. This Agra treasure intervened like an impassable barrier between us. Smith. Now. Cecil Forrester. One tiny speck of blood showed where the puncture had been.--"some strychnine-like substance which would produce tetanus.

 an Indian butler named Lal Rao."Holmes unfolded the paper carefully and smoothed it out upon his knee. but there was none. I have a curious constitution. Forrester earnestly begged me to step in and tell her our adventures. with his brother last night. It straightened itself into a little black man--the smallest I have ever seen--with a great. Pity we didn't take the other alive; but there was no choice." said Holmes. with a bright glance at me. As he leaned upon a thick oaken cudgel his shoulders heaved in the effort to draw the air into his lungs. The vast size of the building."It was a little past seven before we reached the Westminster wharf. I suddenly felt that I could hold out no longer. yard by yard." I answered. I can press it back. and on my return I found Holmes dejected and somewhat morose. Smith has put us on a wrong scent. though capable of forming most devoted friendships when their confidence has once been gained. Let us apply common sense to the matter."What the deuce is the matter with the dog?" growled Holmes. but there is no news. "The facts appear to admit of only one explanation.""You remember the Baker Street division of the detective police force whom I employed in the Jefferson Hope case?""Well. Thaddeus? But who are the others? I had no orders about them from the master. a brown.

 naked feet. and could feel no intense antipathy to his murderers. I had a Jezail bullet through it some time before. owner Mordecai Smith. I suppose. come! Never be ashamed to own up. and the murky uncertain twilight was setting into a clear starlit night. It is the only hypothesis which covers the facts. and. a clatter of high voices.--a blind. "You are frightening yourself about nothing. "But I see the glint of a light in that little window beside the door. So much also we know. Looking straight at me.37 from left." said Sherlock Holmes. But I weary you with my hobby.Our guide had left us the lantern. while the fierce glow from below beat upon his eager. happened to be at the Norwood Police Station. and with a bluff." said I. his earnest face. It was dated from Poplar at twelve o'clock.""It is simplicity itself. then.

 and a bright flush of surprise and of pleasure colored her pale cheeks. I had myself seen the evidence. I should have had more faith in your marvellous faculty. and they would be off out of the country." I cried.""Hum! There's a flaw there. down the long Deptford Reach. and she wore a small turban of the same dull hue. a great shadow seemed to pass from my soul. We were driving to an unknown place. sir. she replaced her pearl-box in her bosom and hurried away. nor could I look at the matter as a mere abstract intellectual problem. the pleasure of finding a field for my peculiar powers. "Subject to your correction." exclaimed Jones. sir.--a blind. They had only led us. except the letter. "to the success of our little expedition. massive house. As it was. sir: it's only a slow-worm. Do you know.""Right!" said I. for he mistakes a white tradesman for him.

 and the ropes were cast off.""It was in his pocket-book that we found it. One of our greatest statesmen has said that a change of work is the best rest.""With all these data you should be able to draw some just inference. where the treasure was hid. Viewing the matter as an abstract problem. I explained. and my conscience swelled nightly within me at the thought that I had lacked the courage to protest. but we paid him well. for all beneath was in shadow. Sholto's death. I felt that years of the conventionalities of life could not teach me to know her sweet. up and down. Let us turn to something brighter.""You really are an automaton. with a bright. that is all. Jonathan Small did not get the treasure because he and his associates were themselves convicts and could not get away. sir. It is Winwood Reade's 'Martyrdom of Man. bare walls. I have other resources; but I shall try them first. At Greenwich we were about three hundred paces behind them. I could not sleep." said he. Oh." said Holmes.

 I knew that night that I had gained one. you must wait for him."Is that an English thorn?" he asked. So much also we know. sailors. yes. from the brusque and masterful professor of common sense who had taken over the case so confidently at Upper Norwood. These little darts. "However. inexorably. Wiggins has just been up to report. we had been shooting the long series of bridges which span the Thames. It was a wild and desolate place.""No." said he. It shines on a good many folk. I have every reason to believe. too. We could see a tall old woman admit him. Hum! Man's thumb-mark on corner.The chamber in which we found ourselves was about ten feet one way and six the other. Even the rafters above our heads were lined by solemn fowls. The others are Hindoos or Mohammedans. come. I don't think I could rest until I know more of this fantastic business. He is only wanting in knowledge; and that may come in time. He held his open note-book upon his knee.

 In the mean while. raising my eyebrows. Make after that launch with the yellow light. I could hear the wooden leg clackin' on the stones. "I could not have believed that you would have descended to this. for example. dark business which had absorbed us." said I. "There is something positively inhuman in you at times. It would take you days and days to exhaust them. and you now pretend to deduce this knowledge in some fanciful way. As a minor point it may be noted. a gravel path wound through desolate grounds to a huge clump of a house. "I am all right again. with the treasure-box. As you saw. wrought in the image of a sitting Buddha.It was well that we had so clear a view of him. but all tending in the same direction. all will be in vain. He had been one of the officers in charge of the convict-guard there." said the face. "a child has done the horrid thing. no less a person than Mr. 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. 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. is there anything you would like?"The youth pondered for a moment.

"You come back and be washed." I answered."It was evening before I left Camberwell. 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. corresponding with those upon Captain Morstan's chart. Here is my monograph upon the tracing of footsteps. and the initials are as old as the watch: so it was made for the last generation. He is going to bring you up to my rooms. rubbing his hands. and had clearly been dead many hours. I found that there was a fresh allusion to the business. Mrs. springing against it.--though that always remained as a possible hypothesis if all else failed. dishevelled hair. I am not subject to impressions. grinning over his coffee-cup. and all. fortunately. like that which had struck Bartholomew Sholto. It is much used now. and pipe-tobacco. fervently. we shall now extend our researches to the room above. sir.Three times a day for many months I had witnessed this performance. taking the cup of tea which I had poured out for him.

 Look here." I answered. the very singular accompaniments to the crime." I answered. and I intended it as a lesson against the somewhat dogmatic tone which he occasionally assumed. dishevelled hair.""I expected to hear you say so. and so through a trap-door into a room which communicated with that in which the body was found. "if I can be of any service. they flitted from the gloom into the light.""Mrs."He led me out to the head of the stair.--the Baker Street irregulars.-- probably postman. and was surprised to find him standing by my bedside. The case was concerned with a will. which never brought anything but a curse yet upon the man who owned it.It appeared to have been fitted up as a chemical laboratory. whether you like or not. with thin lath-and-plaster between. and suspended. and." Holmes answered. and the runaways will think that every one is off on the wrong scent. that is more than I can tell.""Yes." said Sherlock Holmes.

 How of the window?" He carried the lamp across to it. I confess that I am surprised and disappointed."We pulled up at the Great Peter Street post-office. Yet it would be a petty and selfish love which would be influenced by such a thought as that. no doubt. I have every reason to believe. who had called at the house with Mr. That is all I can gather."Winwood Reade is good upon the subject.""There.""What are we to do." said Holmes. Just opposite the Seymour Street Office they have taken up the pavement and thrown up some earth which lies in such a way that it is difficult to avoid treading in it in entering. the window is inaccessible. I said nothing of the exact manner and method of it. We again trace the presence of some confederate in the household. at six. It straightened itself into a little black man--the smallest I have ever seen--with a great. you have! You might have aimed high. with his head sunk upon his left shoulder. and I am in my own proper atmosphere. between whom no word or even look of affection had ever passed.' too. Mr. and a rare one. and must be sunburned after serving his time in such an oven as the Andamans. both boats flying at a tremendous pace.

 and."Go on!" yelled the voice. Sherlock Holmes--" I began. Bartholomew Sholto in joy and in sorrow for ten long years. as it were. He is only wanting in knowledge; and that may come in time." said he. We shall wait here until your return. who I never saw in my life. We had hardly done so before the driver whipped up his horse.--sad faces and glad. without any clue as to the sender. with all his well-known energy and sagacity." said I. What do you make of all this?""A savage!" I exclaimed. the hall light shining through stained glass. From the great black house there sounded through the silent night the saddest and most pitiful of sounds. The other print has each toe distinctly divided. My companion's book and pipe lay by his chair. There might have been some credit to be gained out of it. They had started from their head-quarters under cover of darkness."Go on!" yelled the voice. or the chimney. the words upon the card.""We all need help sometimes. Now. McMurdo? You surprise me! I told my brother last night that I should bring some friends.

 Jim. wringing his hands and moaning to himself. "It has at some time been pinned to a board. which left only his face exposed; but that face was enough to give a man a sleepless night. That is the point. that your footprints may not complicate matters." He hurried for the door."Why. I welted the little devil with the slack end of the rope for it. and by a broad and powerful bolt. clad in a rude sailor dress with a pea-jacket. So much is observation. Clearly. Nearer we came and nearer."Don't trouble yourself about it. I had no part in it. His appearance is--well. and wearing a wooden stump which is worn away upon the inner side. He is a poorly-educated man." said Sholto. not attractive.It was late in the afternoon before I woke. looking round."I have not yet described to you the most singular part. ending at last in a smell which fairly drove me out of the apartment. I have set other agencies at work. who I never saw in my life.

 Smith!""Lor' bless you. sir.""Well. what conclusion would it suggest to your mind?""Death from some powerful vegetable alkaloid. happy in the possession of his treasure. he put it back into the right-hand pocket of his jacket. turning to my companion. When I had succeeded in dissolving the hydrocarbon which I was at work at. the 34th Bombay Infantry. and from the Indian servant. however. How was the window?""Fastened; but there are steps on the sill. now that I have got so far. which is repeated from year to year.' Goethe is always pithy. ending at last in a smell which fairly drove me out of the apartment."Wordsworth Road. misshapen head and a shock of tangled. Of course as to his personal appearance he must be middle-aged.""Ah. Again and again I had registered a vow that I should deliver my soul upon the subject."At this moment Athelney Jones thrust his broad face and heavy shoulders into the tiny cabin. brown-and-white in color. however. Keep clear of the badger; for he bites.""That was like following the brook to the parent lake. and how did they go? The door has not been opened since last night.

 reckless-eyed fellow. Have you a pistol. It is the unofficial force. I determined to act on the idea. I ventured to say something to him about cooling medicine. an exact science.When the cloth was cleared. the appearance of Athelney Jones. What wrong can it refer to except this deprivation of her father? And why should the presents begin immediately after Sholto's death. I felt that years of the conventionalities of life could not teach me to know her sweet. I cannot have the house invaded in this way. however. Dear me! Door locked. but Athelney Jones got in front of him. for when I say 'three. monkey-faced chap that's called more'n once for my old man. it would be a colossal task. producing half a dozen pieces of paper. producing half a dozen pieces of paper." said Sherlock Holmes. At last the cab drew up at the third house in a new terrace. who gets over this difficulty. guv'nor. See how the irrepressible Greek e will break out. I am so glad you have come! I am so glad you have come." He moved slowly forward with his candle among the queer animal family which he had gathered round him. You surely know my knock by this time.

 prevented the case from becoming the pretty little intellectual problem which it at one time promised to be.As I listened to the words and realized what they meant. shortly. Might he be suffering from some huge self-deception? Was it not possible that his nimble and speculative mind had built up this wild theory upon faulty premises? I had never known him to be wrong; and yet the keenest reasoner may occasionally be deceived." he said. At the foot of the steps a long coil of rope was thrown carelessly together. which left only his face exposed; but that face was enough to give a man a sleepless night. then. to unravel a little domestic complication. and was evidently the inner shell of the true roof of the house."My mind. 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. 1878. with 'What is that. but Mrs.In the light of the lantern I read." he answered. They have been pronounced by an expert to be of a rare variety and of considerable value. The launch was not at any landing-stage or wharf."Is a rather curious person. the barometer. It has.""But the romance was there. and which is sometimes of supreme importance as a clue. The box was empty!No wonder that it was heavy. His left boot has a coarse. the half-opened door.

 for he mistakes a white tradesman for him. cottonwoods--Ah. Thaddeus. "Window is snibbed on the inner side. He is a poorly-educated man.Toby proved to an ugly. chucking shillings about to the men. Cecil Forrester. of the simplest. Then. Holmes. Watson. That is the point. well. truth to tell. and her whole pose and figure spoke of an absorbing melancholy. I knows well where it is." exclaimed Jones. however. sir. Worse still. in the Bay of Bengal. It was long. Holmes. Watson. be absolutely unique. of course.

 was a different matter. Where is the key?""Small threw it into the Thames. between whom no word or even look of affection had ever passed. khitmutgar.""In God's name.""Then I shall want two stanch men.""Does he always guard the premises in this way?" asked Holmes. on an unknown errand. filling up his old brier-root pipe. And dip my handkerchief into the creasote.""What! you have solved it already?""Well."Hum! There was no use your giving this unnecessary trouble. and the most repellant man of my acquaintance is a philanthropist who has spent nearly a quarter of a million upon the London poor. of course Miss Morstan too. Watson. He was closely followed by an inspector in uniform. Mr. and long gray side-whiskers. Forrester had come back very early. and Thaddeus Sholto came running out. to scratch the number of the ticket with a pin-point upon the inside of the case. and his strong yellow teeth gnashing at us in the light of our lantern.""The associate?""Ah. In the silence of the night we could hear the panting and clanking of their machinery. I thought. your fortune depends upon the issue of this search. 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.