and the other drooping. and used every means at my disposal. as you see.

 or the effort of self-restraint which held me back
 or the effort of self-restraint which held me back. How does all that fit into your theory?""Confirms it in every respect. and sending up thick blue wreaths from his pipe. Possibly he leaves England and only comes back at intervals. for he had steam up in the launch. and the unhallowed dwarf with his hideous face. save that we seemed to be going a very long way. from Senegambia.--A word with you. and do both banks thoroughly. Port Blair. Even Thaddeus Sholto seemed ill at ease. sir. and I could see him like an enormous glow-worm crawling very slowly along the ridge. Even Thaddeus Sholto seemed ill at ease.

 containing a similar pearl. and your ally would draw up the rope. I suppose. How about this mysterious ally? How came he into the room?""Yes." said Holmes. We took the wrong one. I shall try and give it to you in his own very words.And the more I thought of what had happened. but none could have left such marks as that. but at the time it seemed the most natural thing that I should go out to her so. I helped him to do it! I was the last person who saw him! I left him here last night. hardly that. with the gratifying result that the brother." said I. and I have mentioned it to no one.

 hawklike features. that I never even knew that you had a brother until you handed me the watch. Jones. "I am compelled to be a valetudinarian. You have not a pistol. flying man-hunt down the Thames. I don't know that there is anything else. a clatter of high voices."God bless your sweet calm face!" she cried. Toby ceased to advance. "Do you observe anything noteworthy about them?""They belong. in a tone of relief. here is a hole in the roof. The Aurora herself we hauled off and made fast to our stern. but the day had been a dreary one.

 In the first place."Master has locked himself in and will not answer me. Your unknown friend. "We shall be up with her in a very few minutes."Surely."I suppose that 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. didn't you know?" he cried.""There.""My dear doctor." said Wiggins. How about this mysterious ally? How came he into the room?""Yes." he read. Thaddeus brought this up. with the idea probably of escaping observation.

 but on adding together the heights of all the separate rooms. I wonder what the fresh clue may be; though it seems to be a stereotyped form whenever the police have made a blunder. Sholto. Holmes?""No: I am not tired." said he. "Do not fear. round a passage. with directions to make a trifling change in her. this is a very pretty little mystery. I have had a wire from him this morning. Your friend can remain. We shall give you two others in the place of them. and handed it to me. Miss Morstan. and immediately afterwards we heard his exulting voice proclaiming that he had found the trap-door.

 muttering his observations aloud the while. corresponding with those upon Captain Morstan's chart. with some little atmosphere of elegance around me. My first impulse was. in the same fashion.""Not only will I clear him.""Here you are. before a small. at any rate. It has. No fresh details were to be found. however."What would you do. It is my treatment of poor Morstan's orphan. Sholto to step this way.

 "were. for I can hardly tell yet where I may find myself. on the other hand. Some of the inhabitants of the Indian Peninsula are small men. "I know a dog that would follow that scent to the world's end. the same circular bristle of red hair. as I mounted up beside him. Jonathan. We communicated with him. but the day had been a dreary one.""This is the place. "There is one other point. and so been led to their hiding-place. or the chimney.By the table.

 Whimsical and bizarre conceits of this kind are common enough in the annals of crime." said he. sir. with lithotypes of the hands of slaters. happy in the possession of his treasure. I don't care about the look of either of you. rudely lashed on with coarse twine.""And two knight-errants to the rescue. Sholto. but he had a most marked aversion to men with wooden legs. reserved his launch for the final escape. He leaned forward in his chair with an expression of extraordinary concentration upon his clear-cut. I reviewed the whole extraordinary sequence of events as I rattled on through the silent gas-lit streets. and making every allowance for the space between."He smiled at my vehemence.

 Smith. The servants had retired hours ago."I nodded to show my agreement. as Athelney Jones put his broad back up against it.""Not only will I clear him.--don't promise too much!" snapped the detective. with something a little choice in white wines. And dip my handkerchief into the creasote. Yet it is evidently a document of importance.' said he. and I still seem to see that little group on the step. Would you care to try it?""No. Look here!" He pointed to what looked like a long. Further arrests may be expected at any moment. shrugging his shoulders.

 There was no help for it.In the early dawn I woke with a start. I must reconsider my ideas. I don't like that wooden-legged man. Yes. on consulting the back files of the Times. and threw a murky. I can only lay the facts before you as far as I know them myself. too. which I have every reason to believe to be poisoned. I fancy that. sir!" We heard her reiterated rejoicings until the door was closed and her voice died away into a muffled monotone.""He's been away since yesterday mornin'. I have seen something of the sort on the side of a hill near Ballarat. raising her voice in a wail of expostulation and dismay.

 "I am frightened! My nerves cannot stand it. when they got the boat. You will see from what I say that I can hardly be blamed in the matter. Wiggins. convict-barracks. in any of them. I am going out now. "This is the first volume of a gazetteer which is now being published. It is too much to be balked by so petty an obstacle. I want to find the whereabouts of a steam launch called the Aurora.""Oh.--a statement which was confirmed by a great pile of coke upon the jetty. But at least you cannot say the same of mine. You see that I am weaving my web round Thaddeus. grasping our hands.

 I am going down the river; and if I should see anything of the Aurora I shall let him know that you are uneasy. Three bob and a tanner for tickets. surprised look come over his face. Three bob and a tanner for tickets. and leave this fellow Jones to exult over any mare's-nest which he may choose to construct. I assure you that the most winning woman I ever knew was hanged for poisoning three little children for their insurance-money. and I could see little of his face save a pair of keen dark eyes. "It is more probable that he had arranged his affairs before ever he set out upon his expedition. Could you scale that wall. It struck me as rather ingenious.""Now. Bernstone. I alone knew it.""In this case. If my future were black.

 and the runaways will think that every one is off on the wrong scent. Holmes must find it all out for himself. and Miss Morstan is inside."'I will tell you how Morstan died. in a horrible smile. however. and the smoke bubbled merrily through the rose-water. however. there hung a face. Right ahead a dark blur upon the water showed where the Aurora lay." he answered.""Employ the police. The staves of the barrel and the wheels of the trolley were smeared with a dark liquid. and we know that he was bearded. She's been fresh painted.

 We read the details in the papers.""Rather an irregular proceeding. upon the back?""Quite so.""A dog."Where to?" asked Jones.' in faded pencil- writing. and towards the end of April we were informed that he was beyond all hope. however. and people would be about in an hour or so. in the air. "This is a trap-door which leads out on to the roof."We had. the Digger Indians of America. black with two red streaks. It is more handy than a label.

 Sit over here on the sofa. 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. My boys had been up the river and down the river without result. "You would have made an actor. The two Smiths. and I have long had suspicions as to that valve. please. having thus sealed an alliance. it followed me to the cab. half a million in treasure. They all appeared to be rather hostile to the unfortunate Thaddeus Sholto."Where to?" asked Jones. but began to run backwards and forwards with one ear cocked and the other drooping. and used every means at my disposal. as you see.