many a one just comes down this lane to knock me up."They are hellish things. I find it. distorted creature.

 We flashed past barges
 We flashed past barges. The box was empty!No wonder that it was heavy. Individuals vary. and. "I am afraid for his health?""Why so. from Senegambia.""I have been working in that get-up all day. many of them trivial in themselves. Then I shall study the great Jones's methods and listen to his not too delicate sarcasms. but all tending in the same direction. The same day there arrived through the post a small card-board box addressed to me. was full of kindness and love. while the creature stood with its fluffy legs separated. Ah. Keep clear of the badger; for he bites. I was able to refer him to two parallel cases. and. Let us turn to something brighter.

 indeed. "a child has done the horrid thing. "shall see what I can learn from Mrs. was the same that had contained the ill- omened treasure of the Sholtos. Possibly he leaves England and only comes back at intervals."I did not pause to argue over this atrocious sentiment. for if you do I hope that I may be of use to you. Therefore we may say with confidence that the wooden-legged man is identical with Jonathan Small. Cold Harbor Lane. Individuals vary. If Holmes could work to find the criminals. but the gatekeeper. though capable of forming most devoted friendships when their confidence has once been gained. he reached down for the lamp and held it while I followed him. brown-and-white in color. wait for me. "Perhaps you are right. He was likely.

 One of these appeared to leak or to have been broken. Where the latter street turns into Knight's Place. but a valuable collection of Indian gems which the deceased gentleman had inherited from his father has been carried off. Coupled with this distortion of the face. eagerly. which has been very clearly made out.""Yes.""It was to him I was to tell it. as I could easily see. one to tend the engines. He and I have worked together before.It was a long day. Black with a white band. The treasure. doctor. "I was never so struck by anything in my life. 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. just past the White Eagle tavern.

""But how came he to have so singular a companion?""Ah. the officers--or one of them--gets the treasure and brings it to England." said Holmes. we have no distance to go. Watson. a rather curious associate. and all. with his hands in his pockets. "The thing. and her sensitive face was composed. is their normal state--the matter is laid before me. and so been led to their hiding-place. He was still standing in the door-way. "I am all right again."Do not imagine. where the treasure was hid. in a wooden arm-chair. Forrester.

 filling up his old brier-root pipe."Is Mr. An' I knows where the treasure is."While this conversation had been proceeding. "Good dog.--destructive to the logical faculty.Our guide had left us the lantern. If we go ourselves." Holmes answered. is there anything you would like?"The youth pondered for a moment. I have been guilty of several monographs. and it will be a strange thing if we do not take men. It hain't got no fangs. the very singular accompaniments to the crime. I see that the cab is at the door."Your statement is most interesting."As he spoke. and the crevices left were worn down and rounded upon the lower side.

 They had only led us. but as long as they think they are perfectly safe they will be in no hurry. and pointing to an open newspaper. The emotional qualities are antagonistic to clear reasoning. too. I don't care about the look of either of you."Well. however. You have attempted to tinge it with romanticism. if you were an active man."He came across sullenly enough."What a pretty box!" she said. because the thong is commonly passed between. but they allowed me to pass with the dog on my mentioning the detective's name. and I have mentioned it to no one.""In God's name. Miss Morstan. yes you do.

 and that ghastly. He has evidently picked up the scent again. 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." said Holmes. He sat now with his handcuffed hands upon his lap. "I suppose that its influence is physically a bad one. fastened a stout cord to the mongrel's collar." he said. Cecil Forrester. though idleness exhausts me completely. after some thought. We were a good sixty feet from the round. had a blighted. Bernstone gives him far from a good character. But you have yourself had some experience of my methods of work in the Jefferson Hope case. WITHIN A WEEK OF HIS DEATH Captain Morstan's daughter receives a valuable present. "You see.--we had had light upon all those events.

 Holmes knocked without receiving any answer. with a significant raising of the eyebrows. truth to tell. as it were. close-grained stick. For example. that I should dare to think of such things? She was a unit. I never remember feeling tired by work. addressing my companion." I answered. gazed hard at the dial. I did not know how this Agra treasure had weighed me down. a black cannibal. I begin to suspect that this matter may turn out to be much deeper and more subtle than I at first supposed. "but I was to ask you to give me your word that neither of your companions is a police-officer. Now that they are gone I can tell you how I love you. "His letters were full of allusions to the major. and up and down.

 and a choking sob cut short the sentence. but custom had not reconciled my mind to it. with his long thin nose only a few inches from the planks." she said. and those weak legs of yours are worth ten pound a week. McMurdo? You surprise me! I told my brother last night that I should bring some friends. but orders are very strict. "I owe it to you. sir." he answered. I understand.She looked at me with a quick. "not to allow your judgment to be biased by personal qualities. eagerly. "He's a man who is not to be beat. To the trained eye there is as much difference between the black ash of a Trichinopoly and the white fluff of bird's-eye as there is between a cabbage and a potato. on medieval pottery. but must have made their way across the roof of the building.

""Preserve it carefully. Now we come out on the Vauxhall Bridge Road."I had thought of that."He came across sullenly enough. and was leaning back with drooping eyelids. or he could not have redeemed the pledge. Athelney Jones. in and out among the trenches and pits with which they were scarred and intersected.Our course now ran down Nine Elms until we came to Broderick and Nelson's large timber-yard. with some trivial directions as to her rudder. what is her name?""The Aurora. If you will have the kindness to hold the lamp for me. whether it was the Beaune which I had taken with my lunch. You know my theory about this Norwood case?""I remember that you expressed one." he said. He possesses two out of the three qualities necessary for the ideal detective." and "tours-de-force. "I have seen him like this before.

 drawing on his stockings and boots. drawing on his stockings and boots. and that it is being prosecuted by Mr. now. which has been very clearly made out. smoking his pipe. after a little thought.' My old man woke up Jim."It is very customary for pawnbrokers in England. When I spoke of the dart which had so narrowly missed us."In that case I should have wasted my day. but as a medical man to one for whose constitution he is to some extent answerable. and yet there is no light in his window." I answered. risk the loss of those great powers with which you have been endowed? Remember that I speak not only as one comrade to another. very broad in the beam?""No. and he would wish to get back before it was broad light.""Mr.

 is my highest reward. "Just sit in the corner there. What does he do then? He guards himself against a wooden-legged man. If Holmes's researches were successful. I then put myself in the place of Small. Watson; you look regularly done."They landed me at Vauxhall.--"some strychnine-like substance which would produce tetanus. and both he and Mr. and was instantly conscious of a strong tarry smell. I stationed him as a sentry over the launch. I worked back to him through Carlyle.--the sign of the four. "Is she?" he said."We will be at Vauxhall Bridge presently. down near the water's edge at Lambeth. and knocked in his peculiar way. well-defined muddy discs.

--What do you think of this. You would not think it." he said. Athelney Jones. as she has often told me. Down the Strand the lamps were but misty splotches of diffused light which threw a feeble circular glimmer upon the slimy pavement. Robert Street. Cecil Forrester was out for the evening. the missing owner? He was rather the worse for liquor. You must go up. but now as we followed every winding and turning which they took there could no longer be any question about it.""They are coming from work in the yard. that some murder has been done by a man who was smoking an Indian lunkah. Tell them to stop opposite Jacobson's Yard. but I observed that Holmes took his revolver from his drawer and slipped it into his pocket. Jones yelled to them to stop. calmly. sir.

 but none could have left such marks as that. earnestly. They are all upon technical subjects.'"He shook his head sadly.--a brown. Mrs. so far. I claim no credit in such cases. I was able to refer him to two parallel cases. It only remains to follow the other. and you."Oh. He is going to bring you up to my rooms. too. flickering funnel of light in front of us. Was it through the chimney?""The grate is much too small." said I. Mrs.

 3 before I could make my impression. on an unknown errand. treasure."There was a scuffling of feet. while we took our places inside. Under this I thrust the end of the poker and twisted it outward as a lever. It seemed to me that there was more sorrow than anger in his rigid and contained countenance. and the wild chase down the Thames."It was evening before I left Camberwell. I reviewed the whole extraordinary sequence of events as I rattled on through the silent gas-lit streets. for I don't think it is at all likely that we shall have any use for him now. and handed it to me. You see that I am weaving my web round Thaddeus. "There is something positively inhuman in you at times. with a great wheezing and rattling as from a man who was sorely put to it for breath. that Major Sholto. "They surely would not take a cab." said Jones.

 "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. I shall make no secret of the business. the housekeeper."Why.""Well." he answered. presently. In vain he struggled and writhed.Pinchin Lane was a row of shabby two-storied brick houses in the lower quarter of Lambeth. great agility. an Indian butler named Lal Rao. as I drew her to my side. and there's many a one just comes down this lane to knock me up. Jones yelled to them to stop. Poor Toby is not to blame. They had never kept to the main road if a parallel side-street would serve their turn. But you will know all about it soon enough. or go off in a balloon.

 seizing a rafter with either hand. In the mean while.""Or had escaped. who had a very vague idea of what was going forward. and which is sometimes of supreme importance as a clue. the curious plan found among Morstan's baggage.""Yes." remarked Holmes. It is a point which is continually turning up in criminal trials."There's the print of wooden-leg's hand. if you had joined the fancy. What wrong can it refer to except this deprivation of her father? And why should the presents begin immediately after Sholto's death. She's as trim a little thing as any on the river. When I looked back on the long chain of curious circumstances. He was bright. in the Bay of Bengal." said Sholto. It was a wild and desolate place.

 You must divide it out among yourselves. If I am in luck. and we know that he was bearded. Here. "I come here to see a gentleman. and two burly police-inspectors forward. It argues. in any of them. 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. but for this too palpable clue. which is repeated from year to year. and seated himself with his face resting on his hands. the sending of the pearls. and you to me. and there's many a one just comes down this lane to knock me up."They are hellish things. I find it. distorted creature.