Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1895-05-30

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 weSheard him
stumbling down the stairs in the dark.
CHAPTER VI
SHERLOCK HOLMES GIVES DEMoNsTRA-
TON.
t'Nov, 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 I have told you,
almost complete; but we must not err
on the side of over-confdence. Simple
as the case seems now, there may be
something deeper underlying it."
''Simple!" CALCULATED.
Surely" said he, with something of
the air of clinical professor expound-
ner there, that your footprints may not
complicate matters. Now to work. In
the first place, how did these folks
has not been opened since last night.
How of the Window" He carried the
lamp across to it, muttering his obser-
vations aloud the while, but address
ing them to himself rather than to me.
''Window is snibbed 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. Yet a man
has mounted by the window. 1t rained-
little last night. Here is the print OF
a 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 a very pretty demonstration"
I looked at the round, well-defned
muddy discs. ''That is not foot
mark" said 1.
at 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 broad
metal heel, and beside it is the mark of
the timber-toe.'
''It is the wooden-legged man."
''Quite so. But there has been some
one elsa very able and efficient ally.
Could you scale that wall, Soctor?"
1 looked out of the open window.
The moon still shone brightly on that
angle of the house. We were a good
sixty feet from the ground, and, look
where would, could see no foothold,
nor as much as a crevice in the brick
work.
sit is absolutely impossible" 1 an
| swered.
without aid it is so. But suppose
you had friend up here who lowered
you this good, stout rope which / see
| in the corner, securing one end of it to
| this great hook in the wall. Then, I
think, if you were an active man, you
| O1inht xuo0dor 1orr nd oil
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 minor point, it
may be noted" he continued, lingering
the rope, chat our wooden-1egged
friend, though fair climber, was not
| a professional sailor. His hands were
far from horny. My lens discloses
more than one blood mark, especially
toward the end g the rope, from which
I gather that he slipped down with
such velocity that he took the skin off
| his hands"
''This is all very well,' said I, ''but
the thing becomes more unintelligible
than ever. How about this mysterious
ally? How came he into the room?"
Eyes. the allyn repeated Holmes,
pensively. There are features of in
terest about this ally. He lifts the
case from the regions of the common
place. I fancy that this ally breaks
fresh ground in the annals of crime in
this country-though parallel cases sug-
gest themselves from India, and, if my
memory serves me, from Senegambia. y
''How came he, then?" I reiterated.
1.-THE door is locked, the window is in
accessible. Was it through the chin
ney?''
.sThe CRATE is much too small" he
answered. 81 had already considered
that possibility"
''How then?" persisted
''You will not apply my precept," he
said, shaking his head. ''How often have
I said to you that when you have e1imi-
mated the impossible, whatever re
mains. however improbable, must be
the truth? We know that he did not
come through the door, the window. OF
the chimney. We also know that he
could not have been concealed in the
room, as there is no concealment pos
sible. Whence, then, did he come?''
He came through the hole in the
roof cried.
''Of course he did. He must have
done so. If you will have the kindness
to hold the lamp for me, we shall now
extend our researches to the room
| abOVe-ths secret room in which the