The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1905-10-01

| gazing down at the rush of the wa
/ ters. 1t was the last that / was ever
| destined to see of him in this world.
/ When l was near the bottom of the
| descent / looked back. 1t was impossi-
| BILE, from that position, to see the
| fall, but 1 could see the scurving path
which winds over the shoulder of the
hill and leads to it. Along this a
man was, l remember, walking very
| rapidly.
1 could see his black figure clearly
outlined against the green behind
him. / noted him, and the energy
| with which he walked, but he passed
| from my mind again as / hurried on
| upon my errand.
| 1t may have been little over an
| houS before I reached Meiringen. Old
| Steiler was standing at the porch of
his hotel.
WELL" said I, as 1 came hurrying
up, II trust that she is no worse?"
A look of surprise passed over his
| face, and at the first CULVER of his eye
brows my heart turned to lead in my
| breast.
you did not write this?" 1 said,
| pulling the letter from my pocket.
There is no sick Englishwoman in
the hotel?''
Certainly not!" he cried. But it
has the hotel mark upon it! Ha, 1t
must have been written by that tall
/ Englishman who came in after you
had gone. He said"
But / waited for none of the land
lords explanations. In Jingle of
fear 1 was already running down the
village street. and making for the path
which 1 had so lately descended. 1t
& ha ia mo q n IN down
For all my efforts two more had
passed before 1 found myself at the
fall of Reichenbach once more. There
was Holiness Alpine-stock still leaning
against the rock by which l had left
him. But there was no sign of him,
and it was in vain that | shouted.
. My only answer was my own voice
reverberating in a rolling echo from
; the cliffs around me.
1t was the sight of that Alpine
stock which turned me cold and sick
He had not gone to Rosenlaui. then
He had remained on that three-foot
path, with sheer wall on one side and
sheer drop on the other, until his enc
my had overtaken him. The young
Swiss had gone too. He had probably
been in the pay of Moriarty, and had
left the two men together. And then
what had happened? Who was to tell
us what had happened then?
/ stood for minute or two to col
lect myself, for | was daZed with the
horror of the thing. Then | began to
think of Holiness own methods and
to try to practise them in reading this
tragedy. 1t was, alas, only too easy to
do. During our conversation we had
not gone to the end of the path, and
the Alpine-stock marked the place
where we had stood. The blackish
soil is kept forever soft by the inces-
SAINT drift of spray, and bird would
leave it's tread upon it. Two lines of
footmarks were clearl-. marked along
the farther end of tn" --~t' both lead
ing away from me. There were none
returning. A few yards from the end
the soil was all ploughed up into
patch of mud. and TIC b~ambles and
ferns which fringed the chasm were
torn and bedraggled l lay upon my
face and peered over with the spray
spouting up all around me. 1t had
darkened since l left, and now / could
only see here and there the glistening
of moisture upon the black walls, and
far away down at the end Of the shaft
the CLEAN of the broken water.
shouted but only that same half
human cry of the fall was borne back
to my earr.
But it was destined that | should
after all have a last word of greet
ing from my friend and comrade. j
have said that his Alpine-stock had
been left leaning against rock which
jutted on to the path. From the top
of this bowlder the CLEAN of some
thing bright caught my eye, and rails
ing my hand | found that it came
from the silver cigarette-case which
he used to carry. AS | took it up
small square of paper upon which it
had lain futtered down on to the
ground. Unfolding it, l found that
it consisted of three pages torn from
was characteristic of the man that
the direction was as precise. and the
writing as firm and clear. as though
his notebook and addressed to me. 1t
it had been written in his study.
MY dear Watson it said, II write
these few lines throuoh the courtesy
Of Mr.. Moriarty, who awaits my con-
venience for the final discussion OF
those questions which lie between US
He has been giving me sketch OF
the methods by which he avoided the
English police and kept himself in
formed of our movements. They GER
tainly confirm the very high opinion
which / had formed of his abilities.
am pleased to think that | shall be
dDle TO Tree society lTOHl any luIlhCl
effects of his presence, though | fear
that it is at cost which will give
pain to my friends, and especially, my
dear Watson to you. l have already
explained to you, however, that my
career had in any case reached its
crisis, and that no possible conclusion
to it could be more congenial to me
than this. Indeed, if l may make a
full confession to you, l was quite
convinced that the letter from Merlin
gen was hoax, and | allowed you
to depart on that errand under the
persuasion that some development Of
this sort would follow. Tell Inspector
Patterson that the papers which he
needs to convict the gang are in
pigeon--hole NJ, done up in blue
envelope and inscribed 'Moriarty.' |
made every disposition of my proper
ty before leaving England, and hand
ed it to my brother Mycroft. Pray
give my greetings to Mrs. Watson, and
believe me to be, my dear fellow,
Very sincerely yours,
SHERLOCK HOLMES"
A few words may suffice to tell the
little that remains. An examination
by experts leaves little doubt that a
personal contest between the two men