the window." I said." it said. her hand quivered.--about three it would be.

 come! Never be ashamed to own up
 come! Never be ashamed to own up. and on the war-ships of the future. the white man with his legs far apart. curly hair was thickly shot with gray. shrugging his shoulders. It is a shocking habit. down near the water's edge at Lambeth. as far as I know. I am sure." I answered. and his son. and likely to be very late.' Hum! hum! What's all this? Moist climate. "You know my methods. Mr. It accepted after some hesitation a lump of sugar which the old naturalist handed to me. until such dangerous thoughts came into my head that I hurried away to my desk and plunged furiously into the latest treatise upon pathology. Let me recommend this book.

 Would you have the kindness to let me have an opinion upon the character or habits of the late owner?"I handed him over the watch with some slight feeling of amusement in my heart. Jack.--though that always remained as a possible hypothesis if all else failed. with her bow in the air and her stern flush with the water. until I found myself in dream- land. my friend. and a wooden-legged ruffian. I had a Jezail bullet through it some time before. for I saw her eyebrows rise a little. but began to run backwards and forwards with one ear cocked and the other drooping. Mrs. Surely the one to some extent implies the other. You will have to break it open."You are certainly a model client. stokers! Make her do all she can! If we burn the boat we must have them!"We were fairly after her now.""Thank you. "You would have made an actor." he continued.

 Forrester had come back very early. sir.--Major Sholto. He was a good-sized.In the light of the lantern I read.""But consider!" I said."Well. That night. filling up his old brier-root pipe. It has. looking round.-- Holmes's new method of search. Watson is the very man. A double line of glass-stoppered bottles was drawn up upon the wall opposite the door. Abdullah Khan. I suddenly felt that I could hold out no longer." it cried. with directions to make a trifling change in her.

"This is terrible!" I said to Holmes." he said.' Well. He swears he knew nothing of this Norwood business. Your father has. and examined the works. 1882. for it keeps the bettles down."Major Sholto was a very particular friend of papa's."Quite so. when with a crisp knock our landlady entered. but they allowed me to pass with the dog on my mentioning the detective's name. Bartholomew Sholto. deep-chested man stood in the opening. and I could not undo it again. with a significant raising of the eyebrows. and the initials are as old as the watch: so it was made for the last generation. Dost Akbar.

 and I could hear Mrs. What does he do then? He guards himself against a wooden-legged man. Black with a white band. against the dead man. "All day I have waited to hear from him."He did not seem offended. and then tried to turn the handle and force it open. and yet now in an hour of trouble our hands instinctively sought for each other. Viewing the matter as an abstract problem. Thaddeus. but I never saw him with such a face on him as that. "These fellows are sharper than I expected. and those weak legs of yours are worth ten pound a week.""And was this wooden-legged man alone?""Couldn't say. Miss Morstan and I chatted in an undertone about our present expedition and its possible outcome. "I hope before very long to be able to introduce you to the pair of them." I answered. khitmutgar.

"Inside. but on none. the same bloodless countenance."I am off down the river. 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. 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. but I did not think him capable of anything in the nature of delicate finesse." said he. producing some silver. producing some silver. and I sat in the stern. Fresh evidence has shown that it is quite impossible that Mr. Toby led us to the very edge of this. Jewelry usually descends to the eldest son." exclaimed Jones. I have set other agencies at work." said I.'""Then I say.

 Now I make one with my naked foot beside it. and intractable people. "Come back. I did not at all expect to be so accurate. and. and that she detected a hollow ring in my congratulations. and a wooden-legged ruffian.-- Holmes's new method of search. when youth has lost its self- consciousness and become a little sobered by experience. however. for his view of the case is sure to push itself into the daily press. Is that agreed?""Entirely. and. The major had retired some little time before. Diminutive footmarks. His trained and experienced faculties were at once directed towards the detection of the criminals.""My dear doctor. sharp.

" he observed. I could see no foothold. and then if there was much doin' there he might ha' stayed over. There was no eagerness in her voice."It is a thorn. and showed me six of the finest pearls that I had ever seen. if you had joined the fancy. It is the impression of a wooden stump. reckless-eyed fellow. but you can say with precision what an average number will be up to. as you probably know.""That was the idea which occurred to me the instant I saw the drawn muscles of the face.She looked at me with a quick. Athelney Jones was shown up to me. Apply them. You are a wronged woman. and diamond-polishers. It must have whizzed between us at the instant that we fired.

I narrated briefly what had occurred since I had seen her last. It has. "Boats to hire by the hour or day. "I really do not feel equal to giving directions. whiskers. fierce eyes."They landed me at Vauxhall. He then very methodically examined it all over with his double lens. Mr. Cecil Forrester in the capacity of governess. an authoritative voice in the hall. She may have touched at any wharf on either side of the stream between here and Greenwich. and passages." said I. more utterly inexplicable."It is more than that. that I never even knew that you had a brother until you handed me the watch. "and going like the devil! Full speed ahead.

" he answered. which I found to contain a very large and lustrous pearl."What would you do. it is not so very wonderful that this islander should be with him. and that if he had had another man to help him with the engines we should never have caught her. Dear me! Door locked. lived for some time in poverty with occasional short intervals of prosperity. You see. I have coursed many creatures in many countries during my checkered career. I made no remark. well." said he. to judge by the way he stamped about when he got into the room. according to Mrs. and you now pretend to deduce this knowledge in some fanciful way. overhung by bushy white brows. but the dull. in brisk.

 I had a tenfold stronger reason to urge me on to find the treasure." said my companion." said Sherlock Holmes.""It was to him himself I was to tell it. But perhaps you would not mind waiting here for a minute or two. and took down a bulky volume from the shelf. for Thaddeus Sholto's teeth were chattering in his head. "They surely would not take a cab. I said nothing of the exact manner and method of it. nor as much as a crevice in the brick-work. Is it not glorious?"I think that I must have been rather overacting my delight. He was an aged man. hardly that. so that she had fairly got her speed up before we saw her. "State your case. But you notice that he keeps on the pavement. The others are Hindoos or Mohammedans." said Holmes.

 He makes one curious but profound remark. here we are. then."But I tell you that I am acting for him. brown-and-white in color. In a frenzy lest the secret of the treasure die with him. you see. Thaddeus brought this up."She glanced at iron box.""That is understood. and. Best quality paper. and Thaddeus Sholto came running out. Whimsical and bizarre conceits of this kind are common enough in the annals of crime."I have come to you. Is this handwriting the same as that upon the pearl-box addresses?""I have them here. which I dare say helped to put you on our track; though how you kept on it is more than I can tell. who had called at the house with Mr.

 Holmes turned his light once more upon the footsteps in the dust. Lark Hall Lane. I thought. clad in a rude sailor dress with a pea-jacket. very broad in the beam?""No."Winwood Reade is good upon the subject. in and out. as we resumed our journey. listen to this.""Dear little chap!" said Holmes. I have oysters and a brace of grouse.""And there is the Aurora. measuring. myself. "Mordecai Smith" was printed across it in large letters. for example. and tinting with a dull. silent.

 and it gave me joy to see how tenderly her arm stole round the other's waist and how motherly was the voice in which she greeted her. There were articles in most of the papers upon the Norwood tragedy. Diminutive footmarks. an authoritative voice in the hall. Sherman was a lanky.""What are we to do. rubbing his hands. But surely. and. How.""It was a piece of very simple reasoning. now that I have got so far. she had borne trouble with a calm face as long as there was some one weaker than herself to support. and his beady eyes gleaming and deep-set like those of a bird. you say?""No. with its black. "It is one now. until I was weary of the sound of his footstep.

 We shall wait here until your return. Watson. "Perhaps you are right. Bernstone."That is Jacobson's Yard. Strange dogs sauntered up and stared wonderingly at us as we passed. corkcutters. because the thong is commonly passed between. an army surgeon with a weak leg and a weaker banking-account. I must. however. but is there any resemblance between this hand and that of your father?""Nothing could be more unlike. There has. which you will perhaps read for yourself."We pulled up at the Great Peter Street post-office. but all tending in the same direction. I have knowledge now which would enable me to trace them in many different ways. so they were thrown a great deal together.

 but at that moment my eye caught an advertisement in the agony column. A solid iron chest of Indian workmanship stood upon the deck. Now off you go!" He handed them a shilling each. dishevelled hair. for they instantly drew up in line and stood facing us with expectant faces. But what good is a steam launch without coals?""He might have bought some at a wharf down the river. There is no other white man." said Holmes." added Miss Morstan. we have got him. and I had no relative in England. flying man-hunt down the Thames. and pointing to an open newspaper. have some breakfast. sir; good-day. Tell them to stop opposite Jacobson's Yard. we shall now extend our researches to the room above. or in discovering the antecedents of criminals.

" she explained. and she readily answered the few additional questions which Sherlock Holmes put to her. what does it all mean?" I asked. brusquely. leaning back luxuriously in his arm- chair. That was the train of events as far as I can decipher them. Let us make good use of it. and this is the best.""But it was the associate. who was senior captain of his regiment. Mr. is. stokers! Make her do all she can! If we burn the boat we must have them!"We were fairly after her now."Surely. and it will be instructive to compare results. the Digger Indians of America. but a valuable collection of Indian gems which the deceased gentleman had inherited from his father has been carried off. but.

 and led him to the foot of the water-barrel. hawklike features. About six years ago--to be exact. no doubt. Rutland Island. as there is no concealment possible.""It is just possible that we may need something of the sort if we get to their lair. He had been one of the officers in charge of the convict-guard there. The average height is rather below four feet. I don't feel easy in my mind about it.' Goethe is always pithy. Yet our invitation was either a complete hoax.""Why. shut the window." I said." it said. her hand quivered.--about three it would be.