Mexico weekly ledger., 1894-02-01

breathing and glazing eye showed that
it was not far from it's end. Indeed,
its snow-white muzzle proclaimed that
it had already exceeded the usual term
of canine existence. placed it upon
a cushion on the rug.
81 will now cut one of these pills in
two," said Holmes, and drawing his
penknife he suited the action to the
word. "One-half we return into the
box for future purposes. The other
half I will place in this wine glass, in
which is a teaspoonful of water. You
perceive that our friend, the doe
tor, is right, and that it readily dis
solves"
"This may be very interesting" said
Lestrade, in the injured tom of one
who suspects that he is being laughed
at. 81 cannot see, however, what it
has to do with the death of Mr.. Joseph
Stangerson."
Patience, my friend, patience! You
will find in time that it has everything
to do with it. shall now add a little
milk to make the mixture palatable,
and on presenting it to the dog we find
he laps it up readily enough"
As he spoke. he turned the contents
of the wine glass into a saucer and
placed it in front of the terrier, who
speedily licked it dry. Sherlock
Holmes earnest demeanor had so far
convinced us that we all sat in silence,
watching the animal intently, and ex-
pecting some startling effect. None
such appeared, however. The dog con-
tinued to lie stretched upon the
cushion, breathing in a labored way,
but apparently neither the better o
worse for its draught.
Holmes had taken out his watch, and
as minute followed minute without re-
suit, an expression of the utmost cha
grin and disappointment appeared
upon his features. He gnawed his lip,
drummed his fingers upon the table,
and showed every other symptom Of
acute Impotence. So great was his
emotion that l felt sincerely sorry for
him, while the two detectives smiled
derisively, by no means displeased at
this check which he had met.
at can't be a coincidence" he cried,
at last, springing from his chair and
pacing wildly up and down the room;
sit is impossible that it should be a
mere coincidence. The very pills which
I suspected in the case of Drebber are
actually found after the death of Stan
gerson. And yet they are inert. VIVA t
can it mean? Surely my whole chain of
.easoning cannot have been false. It
is impossible! And yet this wretehed
dog is none the worse. All, l have it!
I have It'll" With a perfect shrek of
delight he rushed to the box, cut the
other pill in two, dissolved it, added
milk and presented it to the terrier.
seemed hardly to have been moistened
In it before it gave a convulsive SILVER
In every limb, and lay as rigid and life
less as if 1t had been struck by light
ming.
Sherlock Holmes drew a long breath
and wiped the perspiration from his
forehead. 81 should have more faith"
he said. II ought to know by this
time that when a fact appears to be
opposed to a long train of deductions
it invariably proves to be capable of
bearing some other Interpretation. OF
the two pills in that box, one was the
nuoSt ueauiy poison anu Tie olner was
entirely harmless. / ought to have
known-that before eve saw the box
at all"
This last statement appeared to me
to be SO startling that / could hardly
believe that he was in his sober
senses. There was the dead dog, how,
ever, to prove that his conjecture had
been correct. It seemed to me that
the mists in my WI mind were grad
ually clearing away, and l began to
have a dim, vague perception of the
truth.
"All this seems strange to you," con
tinued Holmes, because you failed at
the beginning of the inquiry to grasp
the Importance of the single real clew
which was presented to you. / had
the good foyune to seize upon that,
and everything which has oc-
Cured since then has served
to confirm my original suppose
ton. and, indeed, was the logical Sc
quence of it. Hence things which
have perplexed ron and made the case