The Irish standard., 1895-05-11
SIGN OF THE FOUR

"
dear! know that shall 60 madl'''.
: He jerked his arms and stamped his
feet in kind of convnlsiye frenzy.
"You have no reason for fear, Mr..
Sholto," said Holmes, kindly, putting
his hand upon his shoulder. ''Take my
advice and drive down to the station to
report the matter to the police. Offer
TO assist them in every way. We shall
wait here until your return"
The little man obeyed In a half
stupefed fashion, and we heard him
etum bling down the stairs IN the dark.
'.Now,. watson said Holmes. rub.
bing his hands, 1--WE have half an hour
TO ourselves. Let us make good use Of
It. !. My case is, as have told you,
almost complete; but we must not err
on the side of over-confdence. Simple
sthe case seems now. there may be
some thing deeper underlying it,"
Simpler CALCULATED.
Hsurely, said he, with something bf
the air Of clinical professor expound-
ing to his class ''Just sit in the cor
ner. there, t. your footprints may not
complicate p4a5ters. Now to work. In
the first place, how did these folks
come, and how did they go? The door
has not been opened since last night.
How of the Window" He carried the
lamp across to it, 1nuttering his obser-
vations aloud the while, but address
ing them to himself rather than to me.
window is snibped on the inner side.
Framework is solid. No hinges at the
side. Let us open it. No water pipe
near. Roof quite out Of reach. Yetaman
has mounted by the window It rained
q little last night. Here 10 the print Of
IA. mold upon the sill. And here is q
circular muddy mark, and here again
upon the floor, and here again by: the
table. See here, Watson! This is re-
ally q very pretty demons tration."
/ locked at the round, well-defned
muddy discs. ''That is not foot
mark" said I.
''It is something much more valuable
to us. It is the impression of a wooden
stump. You see here on the sill is the
boot mark, heavy boot with q broad
metal heel, and beside it is the mark Of
the ti1nber-toe."
s'It is the wooder-legged man"
"Quite so. But there has been some
one elsa very able and efficient ally.
Could you scale that wall, doctor?" !
I looked out Of the open window.
The moon still shone brightly on that
angle Of the house. We were good
sixty feet from the ground, and, look
where would, could see no foothold,
nor as much as crevice in the brick
work. ;@''
sit is absolutely impossible" ! an
swered.
: Without aid it is so. But suppose
you had q friend up here who lowered
you this good, stout rope which I see
in the corner, securing one end of 1t to
this great hook in the wall. Then,
think, if you were an active man, you
might swarm up, wooden leg and all.
You would depart, Of COURSE, in the
same. fashion, and your ally would
draw up the rope, unite it from the
hook, shut the window, snib it on the
inside, and get away In the way that
he originally came. AS a minor point, it
may be noted" he continued, lingering
the rope, "that our wooden-legged
friend, though a fair climber, was not
a professional sailor. His hands were
far from horny. Ny lens discloses
more than one blood mark, especially
toward the end Of the rope, from which
I gather that he slipped down with
such velocity that he took the skin of
his hands"
:. This Is all very WELL" said I, "but
the thing becomes more unintelligible
than ever. Flow about this mysterious
silly? How came he into the rooms
! "Yes, the allyl" repeated Holmes,
pensively. There are features of in
terest about this ally. He lifts the
ease from the regions of the commons
place. I fancy that this ally breaks
sresh ground in the annals of crime in
this country-though parallel cases
suggest themselves from India, and, If
my memory serves me, from Senegam-
bias"
Glow came he, thsn7"" / reiterated.
"The door is locked, the window is in
accessible. Was it through the chin
ney?" .'
"The CRATE is much too SMALL" }s
answered. 81 had already considereds
that possibility"
'How then7' persisted t.a
''Yon will not apply my precept," he
said, shaking his head. .sHow often have
said to you that when you have elinni-
mated the impossible, whatever re-
mains, however improbable, must be
the truth? We know that he did not
come through the door, the window, or
the chimney. We also know that he
could not have been concealed in the
room, rs sllose is no coHfnealment pos
stole. Whence, then, did he Gomez"
He came through the hole in the
roof T cried.
''Of course he did. He must have
done SO. II you will have the kindness
to toM the lamp Tor me, we shall now
extend our researches to the room
aboye--the secret room in which the
treasure was found. /"
He mounted the steps, and, seizing d
rafter with either hand, he swung him-
self up into the garnet, Then, lying On
his face, he reached dowr, for the lamp
ind held itwhile I followed him.
The chamber II which we found our
selves was about ten feet one way by
.ix: the other. The floor was formed by
The rafters, with thin 18th -and-plast
between, 50 that IN walking one had
10 step from beam to beam. The roof
han up to an apex, and was evidently
HE inner she'll Of the true roof Of the &
house. There was no furniture Of any
sorss :, and the accumulated Il dust q
years lay.thicls upon the hoor.
s3 Here Eon are, you see, 4 Il said Sher~
lock Holmes, putting his hand against