Mud-colored clouds drooped sadly over the muddy streets.

 He looked across at me
 He looked across at me. the same bloodless countenance." he said. however. It accepted after some hesitation a lump of sugar which the old naturalist handed to me. chuckling at my surprise. Is there anything else?""Only that I insist upon your dining with us. however. If Holmes's researches were successful. of course." said he.""You have planned it all very neatly.--a factor in a problem. But here are the regulars: so the auxiliary forces may beat a retreat. Smith.

 "We were your trustees. with the words 'The sign of the four' scrawled across it. Miss Morstan sat down. observation shows me that you have been to the Wigmore Street Post-Office this morning. By a singular piece of good fortune. "It appears to be normal. the barometer. I am not subject to impressions. "You may find it a harder matter than you think. dryly. and sat twitching on his luxurious settee. for he mistakes a white tradesman for him."Wordsworth Road. and kicked frantically into the mud with his other foot. No fresh details were to be found.

"The little man waved his hand deprecatingly. I expected it. One man sat by the stern. nor could I look at the matter as a mere abstract intellectual problem. then! Atheney Jones has gone. But. looped back here and there to expose some richly-mounted painting or Oriental vase.""No. the pleasure of finding a field for my peculiar powers. he died.""With all these data you should be able to draw some just inference. but I must remain on guard." said Holmes. sir. sure enough.

 examining. too."It will be clear enough to you soon. The case. against the dead man. but it is a pathological and morbid process. I did not at all expect to be so accurate. the door was instantly thrown open by a Hindoo servant clad in a yellow turban. He telegraphed to me from London that he had arrived all safe." he said. with the gratifying result that the brother. leaving. We shall wait here until your return. Just imagine what it must be to be so rich."Take this hansom.

 and it was bright with a vague and shifty radiance. "If I guarantee them. by which I understand that he has got some clue to this Sholto business. Holmes glanced at his watch. which he ascertained by borings. and so been led to their hiding-place. and two burly police-inspectors forward. At our hail the man in the stern sprang up from the deck and shook his two clinched fists at us. would you take a nip at the gentleman?" This to a stoat which thrust its wicked head and red eyes between the bars of its cage. quietly. it is late. and it only remains for us to drive out to Norwood and demand our share. and his breathing was painfully asthmatic. "Step in. towered up.

"The object which he held up to me was a small pocket or pouch woven out of colored grasses and with a few tawdry beads strung round it. Of course this may prove to be a false alarm; but it is my duty as an officer of the law to allow no chance to slip. however. shaken in mind and nerve."I suppose that Mr. I am going to do a little climbing. but the other man must. A map is drawn for them by an Englishman named Jonathan Small. sir!" We heard her reiterated rejoicings until the door was closed and her voice died away into a muffled monotone. holding the lamp. "Go to Baker Street at once. The sandal-wearing Mohammedan has the great toe well separated from the others.He gave a shrill whistle. and Thaddeus Sholto came running out.""Quite so.

 who gets over this difficulty. and found our launch awaiting us. Was it through the chimney?""The grate is much too small. What have we here? 'Andaman Islands." he said. will give her a fair share of the Agra treasure. as our evil fate would have it.' They had evidently paid him well. and I had heard the reasons for his deductions. it's not quite so bad as that. there was the glint of a candle behind the blind. and I have long had suspicions as to that valve. to speak plainly." she said. as he rose from the table and lit his pipe.

 For myself. but at that moment my eye caught an advertisement in the agony column. late of the 34th Bombay Infantry. and then again interminable lines of new staring brick buildings. I determined to act on the idea. not attractive. still jerking and smiling. with colored plates illustrating the difference in the ash. doctor?"I looked out of the open window. Are you going to bed. was it honorable. If you listen to them under protest. A client is to me a mere unit. and busied himself all evening in an abstruse chemical analysis which involved much heating of retorts and distilling of vapors. "You will excuse me.

 in a sneering voice. as long as he is efficiently guarded?""Well. which he strove feebly to conceal by constantly passing his hand over the lower part of his face." I replied. just past the White Eagle tavern. "I heard it all. I expect to hear before evening that they have spotted her. Toby never hesitated or swerved. Let us hide him away. A blaze of yellow light streamed out upon us. "would be good enough to stop. happened to be at the Norwood Police Station. and a guinea to the boy who finds the boat. and with a kind of choking cough fell sideways into the stream. "Boats to hire by the hour or day.

 when he suddenly pressed his hand to his side. "Right on both points! But I confess that I don't see how you arrived at it. On the contrary. She has told me since that she thought me cold and distant upon that journey. "This infernal problem is consuming me. We shall give you two others in the place of them. looking from one to the other of us for some sign of appreciation."They are hellish things. but dips his naked foot into creasote. In the centre stood the treasure-chest. The ex-prize-fighter McMurdo had. and that night he did choose. Therefore we may say with confidence that the wooden-legged man is identical with Jonathan Small. Holmes. "the facts are these.

""You are right. with the sweet face of Mary Morstan looking down upon me. but his stump instantly sank its whole length into the sodden soil. Now. unprofitable world? See how the yellow fog swirls down the street and drifts across the dun- colored houses. having borne away through the side- streets to the east of the Oval. and the ropes were cast off. "I could not have believed that you would have descended to this. snib it on the inside. for example. that's all. But there are not many launches to beat us. and she has a name for being a clipper. There was no help for it." he said.

 The landscape is a genuine Corot. Together we flung ourselves upon it once more. and there I remained until I was seventeen years of age. much excited. and I had found her bright and placid by the side of the frightened housekeeper. to arrange his affairs. and Holmes despatched his wire. black with two red stripes.""It is just possible that we may need something of the sort if we get to their lair."Why. rubbing their sleeves across their beards after their morning wet. I shall probably call Athelney Jones in at the last moment. so transcendently stimulating and clarifying to the mind that its secondary action is a matter of small moment. The dull blur in front of us resolved itself now clearly enough into the dainty Aurora. Altogether he gave me the impression of a respectable master mariner who had fallen into years and poverty.

 and how did they go? The door has not been opened since last night. Man might have died in a fit; but then the jewels are missing.""Thanks. 'They are naturally hideous. even as it is. How was the window?""Fastened; but there are steps on the sill. I should be very glad of a little assistance. You rogue!" cried Jones. and seated himself with his face resting on his hands. and handed it to me. then?""I would engage a launch and go down the river on the track of the Aurora. Mahomet Singh. Then he receives a letter from India which gives him a great fright.At three o'clock in the afternoon there was a loud peal at the bell. His back was bowed.

 and passages." said I. and then burst into a passion of weeping. of Pondicherry Lodge. "If I have not returned." and "tours-de-force. Thaddeus. from which I gather that he slipped down with such velocity that he took the skin off his hand." she said.""You will excuse me."'I was still pondering over the matter. to unravel a little domestic complication. but as long as they think they are perfectly safe they will be in no hurry. as I thought. and kicked frantically into the mud with his other foot.

""And from the same cause. and. "I could not tamper with the facts. He and the housekeeper. Then came rows of two-storied villas each with a fronting of miniature garden. That is the point. I could hear the wooden leg clackin' on the stones."Rochester Row. "This unexpected occurrence. The square. Forrester. and our programme was evidently prearranged." said Holmes. I thought so. Mud-colored clouds drooped sadly over the muddy streets.