The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1895-06-05
The Sign of
1.-The Four.

In the early dawn woke With q
start, and was surprised to fud him
standing by my bedside clad in rude
sailors dress, with peajacket, and
coarse RED scarf round his neck.
ST am off down the river. Watson" !"
said he. 81 have been turning it O r
in my mind, and can see only one way
out of it. It is worth trying, at all
events"
Surely can come with you, then, !"
said I.
No; You can be much more useful II
you will remain here as my represent
ative. am loath togo, for it is quite
on the cards that some message may
come during the day, though Wiggins
was despondent about it last night
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 win not be
able to wire to me, for can hardly tell
yetwhere may find myself. If am
in luck, however. may not be gone so
very long. shall have news of some
sort or other before get back
Thad heard nothing of him by break
fast time. On opening the Standard,
however, found that there was
fresh allusion to the business. ''With
reference to the Upper Norwood trag-
edy," it remarked, I'VE 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 beenin any way concerned
in the matter. He and the house
keeper. Mrs. Bcrnstone. were Doth re-
leased yesterday evening. 1t is be-
lieyed, 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.
chat is satisfactory so far as it
goes" thought I. Friend Sholto is
safe at any rate. wonder what the
fresh clew may be; though it seems to
be a stereotyped form whenever the
police have made blunder.'
tossed the paper down apon the ta-
BILE, but at that moment my eye caught
an advertisement in the agony column.
It ran in this way:
''Losr. Whereas Mo- decai 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 q white band, the
sum Of Eve 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
penious, because it might be read by
the fug;tives without their seeing in it
more. than the natural anxiety Of a
wife for her missing husband.
It was long day. Every time that
knock came to the door, or sharp
step passed in the street, I imagined
that it was either Holmes returning or
an answer to. his advertisement. !
tried to read. but my thoughts would
wander of to our strange quest and to
the ill-assorted and villainous pair
whom we were pursuing Could
there be, l wondered, some radi-
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 wild
theory upon faulty premises? had
never known him to be wrong: and yet
the keenest reasoner may occasionally
be deceiyed. He was likely. thought.
to fall icto error through the OYER.
refinement of his logic-his preference
for a subtle and bizarre explanation
when palmer and more common
place one lay ready to his hand. Yet.
on the other hand, had myself seer
the evidence, and had heard the rea-
sons for his deductions. When looked
back on the long chain Of curious cir
cumstances. many of them trivial il
themselves. but all tending in the same
direction. could not disguise from
myself that even i: Holmes explana.
ton were incorrect the true theory
must be equally outre and startling.
At three o'clock IN the afternoon
there was loud peal at the bell, an
authoritative voice in the hall. and. to
nv surprise, no less person than Mr..
Athelnev Jones was shown up to me.
Very different was he, however from
the brusque and maste-ful professor OF
oommon sense who had taken over the