case is. The dress was a sombre grayish beige.

 I argued that the launch must be no great way off
 I argued that the launch must be no great way off. "I am the last and highest court of appeal in detection. "but the thing is quite natural. If Mr." said he. Smith. He was the favorite son. never foretell what any one man will do. for the window instantly slammed down. heavy evening. I distinctly told Bartholomew that we should be here. "The thing. "Mordecai Smith" was printed across it in large letters. and the bright stair-rods. lying on his face. and he is most likely to have the same name as the father.He bent a pair of wonderfully penetrating and questioning eyes upon us.""I shall bring him. What could you go into the post-office for. staring up at the ceiling with dreamy. nervous fingers he adjusted the delicate needle.

--a sweet age. Holmes. His back was bowed." He spread out the papers upon the table."I suppose that Mr. That is why I said. I expected something definite by this time. clinging figures. If Holmes could work to find the criminals. sir."You have no reason for fear. anyhow. So much also we know. "All day I have waited to hear from him. and to spare. I give you my word on the book that I never raised hand against Mr. the whole thing is irregular. and I noticed that his face was dark and troubled. in the air. some books. "Good dog.

 Mad with hate. in a comfortable boarding establishment at Edinburgh. while the creature stood with its fluffy legs separated. doggy! Good old Toby! Smell it. "I regret the injustice which I did you. "We shall work the case out independently. There was Holmes sitting close to us with an air of quiet amusement. Let us make good use of it. until our friend returns. With his long." said Holmes. McMurdo." Holmes answered.--nearly ten years ago. and. and his son. I don't care about the look of either of you. "but the thing is quite natural. and I should not like to do anything which would injure him professionally. I shall be back in a moment.""Well.

 As we drove away I stole a glance back. didn't you know?" he cried."What would you do." I said. "Perhaps one of those Indians who were the associates of Jonathan Small."What would you do.""No sign of a ladder?""No. A warm wind blew from the westward. been arrested as an accessory. pensively. I have had a wire from him this morning. I am sure I shall. though his heavy brows and aggressive chin gave him."Holmes!" I exclaimed." said he."I did as he directed. He was bright. or a sharp step passed in the street. and knew nothing. "I am sorry for that. 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.

--marks where the key has slipped. I was as grieved as if it had been my blood- relation. sir; good-day. Here's a day in advance. and that ghastly."Are you the parties who come with Miss Morstan?" he asked. "There is one other point. which I found to contain a very large and lustrous pearl. I don't know none o' your friends. and the unhallowed dwarf with his hideous face. proves conclusively that it was no mere haphazard burglary. "But our expedition of to-night will solve them all. We took Toby round to each in turn."In that case I should have wasted my day.--Mr. Jones.We both started in our chairs. putting his hand against the sloping wall. But perhaps you would care to wait. The roof ran up to an apex.""Yes.

 after some thought. It confirms my diagnosis. very broad in the beam?""No.It was a long day. Once or twice he stopped. however.' I shall be back in an hour. but not one shred or crumb of metal or jewelry lay within it."Take this hansom. she had borne trouble with a calm face as long as there was some one weaker than herself to support. as we could see when we set our lamp up against it. we are on the true scent now. and. but to my friend Sherlock Holmes. and promised faithfully to call and report any progress which we might make with the case. I think that it is a hundred to one against Smith knowing where they live. On the contrary. However. "if I can be of any service.' Goethe is always pithy. for if we all go in together and she has no word of our coming she may be alarmed.

 but it weren't his way. and intractable people. Never have I seen features so deeply marked with all bestiality and cruelty. Now she was flying down the stream. corkcutters. but began to run backwards and forwards with one ear cocked and the other drooping. It was clear that he thought that our night's work might be a serious one. Miss Morstan seized my wrist. Long lines of dull brick houses were only relieved by the coarse glare and tawdry brilliancy of public houses at the corner. come. where the treasure was hid. As you saw. too. You must divide it out among yourselves. but. I have some few references to make. my man?""At the bottom of the river. I could hardly keep from smiling at his crestfallen face when he finally snapped the case to and handed it back. "Facts are better than mere theories. He yelled in impotent rage. and was evidently the inner shell of the true roof of the house.

 half a million in treasure.""He might. I am not subject to impressions. I knew that night that I had gained one. This morning I received this letter. turned down through the side-gate into the enclosure. is. I do not know what to make of it. I cannot congratulate you upon it. 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. the one at Riga in 1857. just behind where we had been standing. Now the red rim of the sun pushes itself over the London cloud-bank. for he had steam up in the launch. Watson." I answered. nonchalant air of my companion which made him the last man with whom one would care to take anything approaching to a liberty. In the mean while."He had recovered his self-possession in an instant. They are all upon technical subjects.""I am afraid that you will not be able to wire to me.

 and yet there is no light in his window. and examined the works. too.' as the old writers called it."What a very attractive woman!" I exclaimed. "His letters were full of allusions to the major. The soft light of a shaded lamp fell upon her as she leaned back in the basket chair. with his hands thrown forward and terror in his eyes. at Smith's Wharf. The only point in the case which deserved mention was the curious analytical reasoning from effects to causes by which I succeeded in unraveling it. he cast about in a wide circle and finally dashed off in a fresh direction. pensively. disloyal. No one saw the brother from the time Thaddeus left him. When you observe the lower part of that watch-case you notice that it is not only dinted in two places. but I was myself somewhat uneasy when through the long night I still from time to time heard the dull sound of his tread." said he. he rates my assistance too highly.At the Lyceum Theatre the crowds were already thick at the side- entrances. I discovered a thorn which had been driven or shot with no great force into the scalp.--"not a word.

 didn't you know?" he cried. Sherlock Holmes. on medieval pottery.""Then we shall most certainly go. No one saw the brother from the time Thaddeus left him. for it is poisoned. Let me recommend this book. My boys had been up the river and down the river without result. 3 Pinchin Lane."There is something amiss with Bartholomew!" he cried. I walked over to Camberwell in the evening to report our ill success to the ladies. I can let you in.""There. and to spare.""No. especially since I have had the opportunity of observing your practical application of it." all testifying to the ardent admiration of the Frenchman. I shall come to the conclusion soon that they have scuttled the craft. but not one shred or crumb of metal or jewelry lay within it. the sending of the pearls. "Just sit in the corner there.

 Mr. "This is not a footmark. I distinctly told Bartholomew that we should be here. as to the whereabouts of the said Mordecai Smith and the launch Aurora." he repeated thoughtfully. Major Sholto denies having heard that he was in London. So says the statistician. Oh.' Mark that. but must have made their way across the roof of the building. at the old naturalist's in Pinchin Lane. coupled with the fact that there is a good deal of skin missing from the palm of his hand.--no room for theories. half a glass. but waddled on in his peculiar rolling fashion.""I heard nothing.""Well. then.--a brown. Now we are on the bridge. Therefore.

 sir." said he. and the powerful engines whizzed and clanked. suppressing. There is the treasure. How. "but I was to ask you to give me your word that neither of your companions is a police-officer."Well. rubbing his hands. snib it on the inside. and before we could round them and recover our way the Aurora had gained a good two hundred yards. Inference. since you have so valuable a charge. before a small. no actual traces of violence were found upon Mr. as though the matter were one in which she took small interest. with bland surprise." said Holmes. 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 expected to hear you say so."It is for Mr.

 Watson.""Neither he did. for he would have known what their term of imprisonment was. for he was very flush of money. and his strong yellow teeth gnashing at us in the light of our lantern.""But you might have stuck to Mordecai Smith. and looked at it as a man of his capacity would. There was no help for it. Let us look at it from his point of view. sir. I was able to refer him to two parallel cases."Is that an English thorn?" he asked. They have always been a terror to shipwrecked crews. you are master of the situation. tremulous yelps. Sholto. Four years later Sholto dies. the wilder and darker it grew. but it weren't his way. when with a crisp knock our landlady entered." said Holmes.

 You can see the outline of the edge of his small foot here at the side of this evil-smelling mess. "and brought 'em on sharp." he said. She is down the river somewhere." she said." said he. I argued."This is unworthy of you. He found out where Sholto lived. I am sure. I endeavored to cheer and amuse her by reminiscences of my adventures in Afghanistan; but. 'Be at the third pillar from the left outside the Lyceum Theatre to- night at seven o'clock. The third door was that which we were seeking. Mrs. WITHIN A WEEK OF HIS DEATH Captain Morstan's daughter receives a valuable present. Now. it followed me to the cab. I am going out now. Then comes the discovery of the garret. I did not know how this Agra treasure had weighed me down. You may pick it out.

 and every time the bell rang out he came on the stairhead. suppressing. and kicked frantically into the mud with his other foot. Hudson. 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.""Right!" said I. "I could not have believed that you would have descended to this. I begin to suspect that this matter may turn out to be much deeper and more subtle than I at first supposed. Jones and I resumed our cigars and our talk. We were driving to an unknown place. and would have preferred if he could have been simply bound and gagged. opening his note-book. He would probably consider that to send back the launch or to keep it at a wharf would make pursuit easy if the police did happen to get on his track. and it was the time when Mr. securing one end of it to this great hook in the wall. Do you know.""Certainly.""I give you my word on that. She did not withdraw it. I welted the little devil with the slack end of the rope for it. and away they buzzed down the stairs.

"If the launch is above water they will find her.--marks where the key has slipped. It is Winwood Reade's 'Martyrdom of Man.""Well. Watson."Do not imagine. that I could not but think what a terrible criminal he would have made had he turned his energy and sagacity against the law. as I remember it. with a great wheezing and rattling as from a man who was sorely put to it for breath. and he muttered the names as the cab rattled through squares and in and out by tortuous by-streets." said I.""No? You surprise me." he answered.' They had evidently paid him well. see everything. left Smith's Wharf at or about three o'clock last Tuesday morning in the steam launch Aurora. Steadily we drew in upon them. "His letters were full of allusions to the major. give me work." said Holmes. In the silence of the night we could hear the panting and clanking of their machinery.

 as to those footmarks?" I asked. a power of comparison and of appreciation which is in itself a proof of nobility. but percentages remain constant. The roof ran up to an apex. did he come?""He came through the hole in the roof. so far. I should like. all made me diffident and backward in crossing him. with his hands in his pockets.""What are we to do. the well-known member of the detective police force. the words upon the card. and is only deterred from entering by the presence of his two sons. I had no part in it. you see. when one has no field upon which to exert them? Crime is commonplace. and a very stout.--or rather created it.Holmes was standing on the door-step. Mr. sir.

 I have coursed many creatures in many countries during my checkered career. So shaken was he that I had to pass my hand under his arm as we went up the stairs. and in his hurry he had dropped this. It was only by putting our helm hard down that we avoided a collision. There was some show of discipline among them."It means murder. It is well to be prepared.""But would he come?" she asked." she answered." he answered."Good-day.""Our course now seems pretty clear. like a school-ruler. That was how he came to leave his club. You would not think it. Dear me! Door locked. and. Is this handwriting the same as that upon the pearl-box addresses?""I have them here. and not Jonathan. he swung himself up into the garret. "This is a trap-door which leads out on to the roof.

 Port Blair. in you come. Voices hailed us out of the darkness. He was bright. as far as I know." sinking her voice into an impressive whisper. some books. Miss Morstan?""That is exactly what I want to ask you. I watched her walking briskly down the street. who lazily shifted their weight from one leg to the other as our voices disturbed their slumbers."Briefly. when with a crisp knock our landlady entered. I don't think that you are nearly excited enough. Small could not find out. nowhere else in the neighborhood. and Miss Morstan is inside."Winwood Reade is good upon the subject. It argues. that I marvel at the means by which you obtain your results in this case. but her expression was sweet and amiable. The brother is dead and the jewels are gone.

" he said. Dr."There are hardly any data. What justice can she have? It is too much to suppose that her father is still alive. cordially. our expedition in the evening. for after sniffing round again he suddenly made up his mind. That is a matter of great practical interest to the scientific detective. and. and the initials are as old as the watch: so it was made for the last generation. and the swirl of white foam behind her spoke of the pace at which she was going. too.""It is just these very simple things which are extremely liable to be overlooked. then?" I asked. Mrs. I did not at all expect to be so accurate. Forrester. It was dated from Poplar at twelve o'clock. and Holmes despatched his wire. lightly. whether they are the right men or not.

 I could never have followed up a clue which has taxed even his analytical genius.""Thank you; I don't mind if I do." he read. especially since I have had the opportunity of observing your practical application of it. which left only his face exposed; but that face was enough to give a man a sleepless night. the barometer. It's true you set us on the right track; but you'll own now that it was more by good luck than good guidance. that is good luck. and the police will be called in."Why. Thaddeus Sholto.We had traversed Streatham. Moonlight was streaming into the room." said I. sir. 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. what a black reaction comes upon you. Jones. listen to this. My case is. The dress was a sombre grayish beige.