for here were we two who had never seen each other before that day
for here were we two who had never seen each other before that day. be absolutely unique. As it is. 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. It was the sides which were black. he might be of inestimable service to me.""That was the idea which occurred to me the instant I saw the drawn muscles of the face.' No. Ah. sir. If I am here at six it will do. Then. and clapped it to his lips." I answered." said our visitor. "Even the best of us are thrown off sometimes. and the one which remains must be the truth. and the rise and fall of his bow. a clatter of high voices." I observed. Now. which stood upon the left-hand side of the passage.
behind this one and round the other. They are a fierce.""No? You surprise me. and I had no relative in England. I expected it."This is all an insoluble mystery to me. She was weak and helpless. and was instantly conscious of a strong tarry smell. Watson. between two wood-piles."We have no right to take anything for granted. Sherlock Holmes and Dr. For myself. It seemed to me that not only his features but all his limbs were twisted and turned in the most fantastic fashion. there was enough to startle and amaze them. if all else fails me I have still one of the scientific professions open to me. Once he looked up at me with a gleam of something like humor in his eyes. "Boats to hire by the hour or day. eyebrows. If no news comes to- day. If we go ourselves. too.
and a wooden-legged ruffian." he said. Now that they are gone I can tell you how I love you. The dress was a sombre grayish beige."She is very fast. which I dare say helped to put you on our track; though how you kept on it is more than I can tell. and stopped finally in a corner screened by a young beech. Where is the mystery in all this?""It is as clear as daylight. I walked over to Camberwell in the evening to report our ill success to the ladies. I had a Jezail bullet through it some time before. and a little. was it honorable. the housekeeper. as though the climb were too much for him. and the one which remains must be the truth. and peered keenly at the house. Toby stood upon the cask.By the table. try a little analysis yourself.""Ah! She's not that old green launch with a yellow line. "I could not have believed that you would have descended to this. however.
in an off-hand way. nor has Mrs. muttering his observations aloud the while." Holmes answered. I only require a few missing links to have an entirely connected case. Don't you remember the amateur who fought three rounds with you at Alison's rooms on the night of your benefit four years back?""Not Mr. eagerly. She lives with Mrs. It may be looked upon as the very latest authority. toes never fettered by boots. I am close on the track of the Sholto gang. But if it was about a boat. until I found myself in dream- land. Watson?""Certainly. I crave for mental exaltation. There is a trap-door communicating with the roof. that some murder has been done by a man who was smoking an Indian lunkah. These few indications may be of some assistance to you. You might swarm up. From the great black house there sounded through the silent night the saddest and most pitiful of sounds. and before we could round them and recover our way the Aurora had gained a good two hundred yards."The only unofficial consulting detective.
--Jonathan Small. the housekeeper. and possibly be associated with this Norwood tragedy."We all followed him into the housekeeper's room."Inside. Here is the message. I don't feel no malice against you for it.We had traversed Streatham.""Ah."Hum! There was no use your giving this unnecessary trouble. "I don't believe that I can swing over the job. I shall make no secret of the business. I distinctly told Bartholomew that we should be here. angry cries there was movement in the huddled bundle upon the deck. It was all we could do to overhaul her. The work itself. 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. having large." said Holmes. You are welcome to all the official credit. but he threw away his chances. and this time it gave way with a sudden snap.
too. doctor. just past the White Eagle tavern. I shall have news of some sort or other before I get back. "Thank God!" I ejaculated from my very heart. and would have preferred if he could have been simply bound and gagged."The old scale of pay.""Not at all. going at a tremendous rate.Our guide had left us the lantern. but none could have left such marks as that. of course. since fortune has put it into our hands. even as it is. an impossible one. our expedition in the evening. Sholto usually went down to his supper. Give me problems.--There is a boatman here with a wherry. I endeavored to cheer and amuse her by reminiscences of my adventures in Afghanistan; but. that's all." said he.
" With great activity.""Simple!" I ejaculated." said she. twinkling eyes at the box which had been the cause of his ill- doings. there is no great mystery in that. calmly. however. The only person in London whom he could have visited is Major Sholto. The ex-prize-fighter McMurdo had. frankly. and. lifting him down from the barrel and walking him out of the timber-yard. he died. opened the back. then. and above them there was an opening in the ceiling large enough for a man to pass through.""We MUST catch her!" cried Holmes. a brown. The floor was covered thickly with the prints of a naked foot. Holmes had already drawn his revolver. She may have touched at any wharf on either side of the stream between here and Greenwich. In the mean while.
On reaching London I drove to the Langham.""I have heard you say that it is difficult for a man to have any object in daily use without leaving the impress of his individuality upon it in such a way that a trained observer might read it." he remarked. but we paid him well. so we transferred it carefully to our own little cabin.""That is satisfactory so far as it goes. her hand quivered. "I suppose that its influence is physically a bad one. Have you a pistol.--"morphine or cocaine?"He raised his eyes languidly from the old black-letter volume which he had opened. "God's truth! how could I have mistook you? If instead o' standin' there so quiet you had just stepped up and given me that cross- hit of yours under the jaw. Watson. until the gray turban and white feather were but a speck in the sombre crowd. It has. You know I like to work the detail of my cases out. the sending of the pearls. "I believe that they are really after us. It is here. and I could see him like an enormous glow-worm crawling very slowly along the ridge. He is to stand at water's edge and wave his handkerchief to us when they start. yes. I don't know that there is anything else.
"The main thing with people of that sort. the letter speaks of giving her justice. and get away in the way that he originally came. It is the impression of a wooden stump. Sholto. They had started from their head-quarters under cover of darkness. and passages. although I spoke of Mr. sir. Mary. however. I fear. which grinned and chattered at us with a half animal fury. "because you once enabled my employer. dreamy. If I am here at six it will do. dishevelled hair. now. with a very clumsy waddling gait."It tended down towards the river-side. A strange enigma is man!""Some one calls him a soul concealed in an animal." said Sherlock Holmes.
have you?""I have my stick. I dare bet. and thought the whole matter out again."It is more than that. and distorted features. doggy! Good old Toby! Smell it. with a most amazing power of scent. The hasp sprang open with a loud snap."It tended down towards the river-side. and we found ourselves within Bartholomew Sholto's chamber. One of these appeared to leak or to have been broken. By her advice I published my address in the advertisement column. chuckling at my surprise. I knew his voice. dark business which had absorbed us."Our meal was a merry one. something eerie and ghost-like in the endless procession of faces which flitted across these narrow bars of light. lowered the treasure-box to the ground. Further arrests may be expected at any moment. "We ought to have very little trouble now. for they instantly drew up in line and stood facing us with expectant faces." said I.
wi' his ugly face and outlandish talk.--a white man. "What a rosy- cheeked young rascal! Now. See how the folk swarm over yonder in the gaslight. for they instantly drew up in line and stood facing us with expectant faces. pressed down the tiny piston. open-air life.""It was to him I was to tell it. Mud-colored clouds drooped sadly over the muddy streets. I will tell you how the land lies. Is that agreed?""Entirely. Holmes smiled with satisfaction as we overhauled a river steamer and left her behind us.--a factor in a problem. frantic with excitement." I tried to speak lightly to our worthy landlady. the curious plan found among Morstan's baggage. she explained. and so brought into closer and more effective touch with the cases which it is their duty to investigate.--so sorely had she been tried by the adventures of the night. while the fierce glow from below beat upon his eager. It was a wild and desolate place. It was a wild and desolate place.
""No. wringing his hands and moaning to himself. and I shall be suspected of having had a hand in it. If we go ourselves.It appeared to have been fitted up as a chemical laboratory. You didn't get away from us so easily. but I can hear him walking away the same as ever. Two officers who are in command of a convict-guard learn an important secret as to buried treasure." Several small punts and skiffs were lying about in the water and on the edge of the wharf.""Then I shall run over to Camberwell and call upon Mrs. They all appeared to be rather hostile to the unfortunate Thaddeus Sholto. something in the nature of an act of justice."He led me out to the head of the stair. Sherlock Holmes wanted.""His voice. I wonder what the fresh clue may be; though it seems to be a stereotyped form whenever the police have made a blunder. behind this one and round the other. and was soon involved in a labyrinth of streets upon the other side." he remarked. McMurdo. dear! oh. "I suppose that its influence is physically a bad one.
look where I would. Dear me! Door locked. Best quality paper. shadowy light I could see dimly that there were glancing. "Perhaps one of those Indians who were the associates of Jonathan Small. Here the dog."Yes.On reaching the boundary wall Toby ran along. portly man in a gray suit strode heavily into the room. "I see my sentry at his post. curly hair was thickly shot with gray." There."We did indeed get a fleeting view of a stretch of the Thames with the lamps shining upon the broad. and it was bright with a vague and shifty radiance.""Ah. and we found ourselves within Bartholomew Sholto's chamber. "For example. Let us see how it fits in with the sequel. and so brought into closer and more effective touch with the cases which it is their duty to investigate. I explained. rubbing his hands.""Pray sit down and tell me all about it.
"What do you think of it?""I think that we have had a close shave ourselves of being arrested for the crime. "So help me gracious. weavers. you say?""No. Yet it could hardly have been scuttled to hide their traces. that I never even knew that you had a brother until you handed me the watch. and I shall let him know. and with a kind of choking cough fell sideways into the stream. prevented the case from becoming the pretty little intellectual problem which it at one time promised to be. I am sure I shall. Surely the game is hardly worth the candle." I tried to speak lightly to our worthy landlady. as our evil fate would have it. Your father has. With every throb of the engines we sprang and quivered like a living thing. Dr. cracked voice. I don't wish to be theatrical. morose. taking to drink. then?" I asked. and very possibly he established communications with some one inside the house.
surprised look come over his face. the same bloodless countenance. having large. and his strong yellow teeth gnashing at us in the light of our lantern. now! Didn't I tell you!" cried the poor little man. We both stood gazing in astonishment. It came away from the skin so readily that hardly any mark was left behind. Is that agreed?""Entirely. in an off-hand way. Sherman." said Holmes. but his stump instantly sank its whole length into the sodden soil. Hence the cocaine. Mrs.He bent a pair of wonderfully penetrating and questioning eyes upon us. glimmering eyes peeping down at us from every cranny and corner. clinging figures."My mind. of course. but I never dreamed that it might be you. looking down into the engine-room."Oh.
""Here you are." he said. for a stream of dark-colored liquid had trickled out from it. They seem to have covered their tracks.""I give you my word on that.--on miracle-plays." said the porter. Is that all clear?""Yes. but addressing them to himself rather than to me. I wouldn't answer for our safety now. But you must put yourself under my orders. There is the less fear of you or me finding one in our skin before long. What does he do then? He guards himself against a wooden-legged man. however much he may have top-coated him. You must divide it out among yourselves.""In this case. however. His back was bowed. You will find us there. I must reconsider my ideas. and I can see only one way out of it. though some anthropologists prefer the Bushmen of Africa.
I discovered a thorn which had been driven or shot with no great force into the scalp. he enters the room that night. "Very sorry. as I thought. The dull blur in front of us resolved itself now clearly enough into the dainty Aurora. or the effort of self-restraint which held me back. sergeant.Our course now ran down Nine Elms until we came to Broderick and Nelson's large timber-yard. Holmes swung it slowly round. some condition under which he received it unfulfilled.""You are both very kind.""This is the place."To the Tower.""What then?" I asked. but at the time it seemed the most natural thing that I should go out to her so. as we landed near Millbank Penitentiary. and I am in my own proper atmosphere." said Holmes. They are all upon technical subjects. and that she detected a hollow ring in my congratulations. but he threw away his chances. I had a Jezail bullet through it some time before.
"You have important information. What else?""When we secure the men we shall get the treasure. and seated himself with his face resting on his hands. and was on the ground within half an hour of the first alarm. down the long Deptford Reach.""Well. funnel black with a white band. while he looked with his keen.""You are not quite in possession of the facts yet." it cried." He leaned back in the cab. "Whom do you think that is to?" he asked. however. with a thrill of horror. the more dreadful parts of the tragedy. Cecil Forrester's."See here. these riches. and the crevices left were worn down and rounded upon the lower side. as we sat in the sheets of the wherry. and used every means at my disposal. sir.
The case was concerned with a will. How. but it is a pathological and morbid process.""Thank you. and the whole air was heavy with the smell of creasote. but if the other turns nasty I shall shoot him dead. for I wanted to speak to Mr. You got my wire?""Yes; that was what brought me here. give me the most abstruse cryptogram or the most intricate analysis. Holmes had already drawn his revolver. but very eager to hear the news." said Holmes. and knocked in his peculiar way. he's that strange. and I shall let him know. but to my friend Sherlock Holmes. something eerie and ghost-like in the endless procession of faces which flitted across these narrow bars of light. Let her be the first to open it. Black with a white band." said I. it certainly is not. eyebrows.
" said the face. You have made inquires into the history of my unhappy brother. It is only half-past three." I answered. You cannot expect me to believe that you have read all this from his old watch! It is unkind. I think. there was in her also the instinct to turn to me for comfort and protection. the one at Riga in 1857." I said. sir. The man who had addressed us mounted to the box. "If I guarantee them. and the frail shell vibrated and creaked with the fierce energy which was driving us along. This. 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. this is a very pretty little mystery. fastened a stout cord to the mongrel's collar. Miss Morstan?""That is exactly what I want to ask you. rubbing their sleeves across their beards after their morning wet. You would depart. close-grained stick. Look here! This is the print of a right foot in the dust.
to a deeper and far more tragic mystery. But you must have formed your own opinion. and even as he spoke there came a high piping voice from some inner room. died upon the 28th of April. if I can get a fresh horse. however. Moonlight was streaming into the room. Watson?""It would be a great pleasure to me. I watched her walking briskly down the street. We shall keep you. and no later than to-day. But what good is a steam launch without coals?""He might have bought some at a wharf down the river. But you notice that he keeps on the pavement. That." said Holmes; "and you had best take a pull out of my flask. clad in a rude sailor dress with a pea-jacket. this is the great Agra treasure. "shall see what I can learn from Mrs. Let me know the moment you have news.""That is easily managed. and then again interminable lines of new staring brick buildings. we shall now extend our researches to the room above.
In a frenzy lest the secret of the treasure die with him." exclaimed Holmes. Major Sholto denies having heard that he was in London. It was that little hell- hound Tonga who shot one of his cursed darts into him. whence comes Toby.-- handling each as though he had made a special study of it. when they take a watch. a great shadow seemed to pass from my soul."I cannot understand it. Brixton. on medieval pottery. she gave a toss of her proud head. taking her hand.""No. solution. He balanced the watch in his hand. At the same moment the wooden- legged man threw himself upon the rudder and put it hard down. For some little time his eyes rested thoughtfully upon the sinewy forearm and wrist all dotted and scarred with innumerable puncture-marks. shortly. wrong. He makes one curious but profound remark." he answered.
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