Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1895-06-27

Of his teSt-tu beS which told me that he
was still engaged in his malodorous ex-
pertinent.
In the early dawn ] woke with a
start, and was surprised to fiud him
standing by my bedside clad in rude
sailors dress, with peajacket. and
coarse red scarf round his neck.
81 am of down the river, Watson"
said he. 81 have been turning it over
in.my mind, and can see only one way
out of it. 1t is worth trying, at all
events"
Surely can come with you, theu,''
said I.
No; you can be much more useful if
you will remain here as my represent
alive. 1 am loath to go, for it is quite
on the cards that some message may
come during the day, though Virgins
was Respondent about it last night. I
want you to open all notes and tele-
grams and to act on your own judg-
| ment if any news should come. Can /
rely upon you?"
Most certainly"
81 am afraid that You viii not be
able to wire to me, for can hardly tell
| yet where / may find myself. If am
in luck, however, l may not be gone so
very long. l shall have news of some
sort or other before I,get back"
had heard nothing OF him by break
fast time. On opening the Standard,
however, found that there was a
fresh allusion to the business. with
reference to the Upper Norwood trag-
edy," it remarked, 1--WE have reason to
believe that the matter promises to be
even more complex and mysterious
than was originally supposed. Fresh
evidence has shown that it is quite i'm
| possible that Mr.. Thaddeus Sholto
| could have been in any way concerned
in the matter. He and the house
| keeper, Mrs. Bernstone, were both re-
leased yesterday evening. It is be-
lieved, however, that the police have
clew to the real culprits, and that it is
being prosecuted by Mr.. Athelney
Jones, of Scotland Yard, with all his
well-known energy and sagacity. Fur
ther arrests may be expected at any
! moment"
THAT is satisfactory so far as it
goes" thought /. ''Fricnd Sholto is
safe at any rate. ] wonder what the
fresh clew may be; though it seems to
be stereotyped form whenever the
police have made blunder."
l tossed the paper down upon the ia
BILE, but at that moment my eye caught
an advertisement in the agony column.
| 1t ran in this way:
''LosT. - Whereas Mordecai Smith,
boatman, and his son Jim left Smiths
wharf at or about three o'clock last
Tuesday morning in the steam launch
Aurora, black with two red stripes,
funnel black with a white band, the
sum of five pounds will be paid to any
one who can give information to Mrs.
Smith, at Smiths wharf, or at 221 b
Baker street, as to the whereabouts OF
the said Mordecai Smith and the
launch Aurora"
This was clearly Holmes doing. The
Baker street address was enough to
prove that. It struck me as rather in
genious, because it might be read by
the fugitives without their seeing in it
more than the natural anxiety of a
wife for her missing husband.
It was long day. Every time that
a knock came to the door, or a sharp
step passed in the street, I imagined
that it was either Holmes returning OF
an answer to his advertisement.
tried to read, but my thoughts would
wander off to our strange quest and tc
the -1l-assorted and villainous pain
whom we were pursuing. Gould
cal flaw in my companions reason
ing? Might he be Suffering from
some huge self-deception? Was it not
} possible that his nimble and specu
lative mind had built up this wilC
theory upon faulty premises? 1 haG
l never known him to be wrong; and ye
the keeneSt reasoner may occasionally
be deceived. He was likely, thought
l to fall into error through the over
r refinement of his logic-his preference
for subtle and bizarre explanation
when a palmer and more common
place one lay ready to his hand. Yet
Oh the other hand, had myself seer
the evidence, and had heard the rea
sons for his deductions. When 1 looked
back on the long chain of curious cir
cumstances, many of them trivial il
themselves, but all tending in the same
direction, 1 could not disguise from
| myself that even if Holmes expIana
ton were incorrect the true theor.
must be equally outre and startling.
At three o'clock in the Afternoon
there was a loud peal at the bell, al
authoritative voice in the hall, and, t.
ny surprise, no less person than Mr.
Athelney Jones was shown up to me
Very different was he, however, from
the brusque aud masterful professor o
common sense who had taken over tn
case so confidently at Upper Norwood
His expression was dOwncaSt, and hi