The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1902-07-27

| fact"
what does it suggest"
"Jt supgeSts-halloa, my dear 1eiio",
! What on earth is the matter!
/ As we came round the top of the
stairs we had run up against Sir henry
! Baskerville himself His face was 1lush-
Cd with anger. and he held an old and
| dusty boot in one of his hands. so fn-
/ rious was he that he was hardly aruc"-
| late and when he did speak 1t was IN a
! much broader and more Western dlaiect
| than any which we had heard from him in
the morning.
seems to me they are playing !ne for
a sucker in this hotel" he cried. They'll
find they've started in to monkey with
the wrong man unless they are careful.
BY thunder if that chap cant find my
missing boot there will be trouble. |
can take a joke with the best, MI.
Holiness but they've got a bit over the
mark this time.
Still looking for your boot?'
Yes, sir, and mean to find it"
But surely. you said that it was a
new brown boot?''
so it was sir. And now it's old
black one
What you don't mean to say"
That's just what l do mean to say. I
onyl had three pairs in the world-the
new brown, the old black and the patent
feathers, which l am wearing. Last night
they took one of my brown ones, and
to-day they have sneaked one of the
blck. Well have You got it? Speak
out. man, and don't stand staring
An agitated German waiter had ap-
peared upon the scene.
No. sir: | have made inquiry all over
the hotel but l can hear word of it.
Well. either that boot comes back be-
fore shutdown or I'll see the manager and
tell him that / go right straight out of
this hotel.
1T shall be found, sir-I promise YOU
thai if YOU will have d little patience 1t
will be found
Mind it is for it's the last thing of
mine that I'll lose in this den of thieves.
Well. we'll MI Holmes, you'll excuse
NV troubling YOU about such a trfle--''
Il think it's well worth troubling
about.
why. you look Very serious over 1t.
How do you explain t?'
Il just don't attempt TO explain 1t.
It seems the very maddest, queerest thing
that ever happened to me-
The Queerest PERHAPS said Holmes
thoughdully.
what do YOU make of it yourself?'
'Nyll. I don't profess to understand it
vet This case of yours is very com
pick, Sir. Henry. When taken in con-
iunction with Your uncle's death I am
not sure that of all the five hundred
cases of capital Importance which l have
handled there is one which cuts so deep.
But we hold several threads in our hands
and the odds are that one or other of
them guides us to the truth. We may
waste time in following the wrong one.
but sooner or later we must come upon
the right"
We had a pleasant luncheon, In which
little was said of the business which had
brought us together. 1t was in the pr.
waite sittingroom to which we afterwards
repaired that Holmes asked Baskerville
what were his intentions
''To go to Baskerville Ham.
And when?"
AT the end of the week.
ION the whole said Holmes. Il think
that vour decision is a, wise one.
have ample evidence that you are being
dCgeed in London. and amid the millions
OF this great city it is difficult to dis
cover who these people are or what their
cb;ect can be- If their intentions are evil
.lley might do you a mischief, and we
should be powerless to prevent it. You
did net know. DR.. Mortimer, that you
were followed this morning from my
house,"
Dr. Mortimer started violently.
Followed, BY whom?"
THAT. unfortunately, is what | cannot
tell YOU Have you among your neigh
bors or acquaintance on Dartmoor any
man with black. full beard?"
Moor. let me see-why, yes. Barry
more Sir Charles butler, is a man with a