Courier Democrat. (Langdon, N.D.) 1891-1920, 1894-10-18
CHAPTER ".


1t was one o'clock when we left No.
5 Lauriston Gardens Sherlock Holmes
led me to the nearest telegraph Office.
whence he dispatched long telegram.
He then hailed cab, and ordered the
driver to take us to the address given
us by Lestrade
There is nothing like first-class evil
dence.' he remarked; las a matter OF
fact. my mind is entirely made up upon
the case but still We may as we'll learn
all that is to be learned"
You amaze me. Holmes" said L.
Surely you are not as sure as you pre-
tend to be of those particulars which
you gave"
There's no room for mistake" he
answered. The very first thing which 1
observed on arriving there was that a
cab had made two ruts with its wheels
close to the curb. Now, up to last
night, we have had no rain for week.
SO that these wheels. which left such q
deep impression. must have been there
during the night. There were the marks
of the horses hoofs. too. the outline Of
one of which was far more clearly cut
than that of the other three. showing
that that was new shoe. Since the
cab was there after the rain began, and
was not there ut any time during the
morning. have Gregson's word for
thar-it follows that it must have been
there during the night, and therefore,
that it brought these two individuals
to the house
That seems simple enough" said l.;
hut how about the other mans
height"
Why. the height Of a man in nine
cases out of ten. can be told from the
length of his stride. 1t is simple cal
culation enough, though there is no use
my boring you with figures. l had this
fellows stride. both in the clay outside
and on the dust within. Then l had a
way of checking my calculation. When
a man writes on the wall, his instinct
leads him to write about the level Of
his own eye. Now. that writing was
just over six feet from the ground. 1t
was childs play
And his age?" I asked.
well. if man can stride four and a
half feet with the smallest effort, he
can't be quite in the sere and yellow.
That was the breadth Of puddle Oh
the garden walk which he evidently
walked across Patent-leather boots
had gone round. and SQuare-toes had
hoped over. There is no mystery
about it at all Lam simply applying
to ordinary life Il few of those preccpts
Of observation and deduction which
advocated in that article. Is there any
thing else that puzzles you?"
The finger-nails and the Trichinop-
oily suggested.
The writing on the wall was done
With a mans forefnger dipped in blood.
My glass allowed me to observe that
the plaster was slightly scratched in
doing it. which would not have been
the case if the mans nail had been
trimmed. gathered up some scattered
ashes from the floor. 1t was dark in
color and tlakey-such an ash is only
made by Il Trichinopoly. have made
special study Of cigar ashes-in fact,
/ have written monogram upon the
subject. l flatter myself that can dis
tinguish at glance the ash of any
known brand either Of cigar or Of to-
hacco. 1t is just in such details that
the skilled detective differs from the
Gregson and Lestrade type"
And the florid face?' asked.
''Ah. that was the more daring shot,
though l have no doubt that was
right. You might not ask me that at
the present state Of the affair.""
I passed my hand over my brow
My head is in u whirl." remarked;
1.-The more one thinks of it the more
mysterious it grows. How came these
TWO men-if there were two men-into
an empty house? What has become of
the cab man who drove them? How
could one man compel another to take
poison? Where did the blood come
from? What was the object Of the muir
der, since robbery had no part In 1t!
How came the woman's ring there?
Above all. why should the second man
write I'D the German word "rache" be-