Evening bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1895-1912, 1905-09-04
The Adventure OF
the Three Students
No. o Of the Series
CONTINUED from Saturday,

examination for the Fortescue scholar
ship. am one Of the examiners. My
subject Is Greek, and the first Of the
papers consists Of large passage Of
Greek translation which the candidate
has not seen. This passage is printed
on the examination paper, and Il
would naturally be an Immense ad-
vantage IL the candidate could prepare
II In advance. For this reason great
care Is taken to keep the paper secret
To-day about 8 o'clock the proofs
of this paper arrived from the printers.
The exercise consists Of half a chapter
Of Thucydides. had to read 1t over
carefully, rs the text must be abso.
lutely correct. AT 4:30 my task was
not yet completed. I had, however,
promised to take tea In friends
/ rooms, so I left the proof upon my
desk. was absent more than an hour.
You are aware, Mr. Holmes, that
our college doors are double-.a green
baize one within and heavy oak one
without? As approached my outer
door l was amazed to see a key. In It.
For an Instant imagined that l had
left my own there, but on feeling In my
! pocket l found that II was oil right.
' The only duplicate which existed, so
far us knew, was that which belonged
to my servant. Bannister, a man who
has looked after my room for ten years
and whose honesty Is absolutely above
suspicion. found that the key was
indeed his, that he had entered my
room to know II wanted tea and that
he had very carelessly left the key in
the door when he came out. His visit
to my room must have been within
very few minutes of my leaving 1t. His
forgetfulness about the key would have
mattcrcd little upon any other occa-
sion, but on this one day It has pro-
duced the most deplorable conse-
quences.
'"The moment looked at my table
was aware that some one had rum
mayed among my papers. The proof
was In three long slips. had left
them all together. Now found that
one of them was lying ON the floor one
was on the side table near the window
, and the third was where had left It,"
Holmes stirred for the first time.
'"The first page on the floor, the Sec
ond In the window, the BIRD where you
left it?" said he.
Exactly, Mr.. Holmes. You amaze
me. How could you possibly know
that?"
Pray continue your very interesting
statement"
For an instant imagined that Ban
mister had taken the objectionable lib
erty Of examining my papers. He de-
MED II, however, with the utmost ear
nestness, and l am convinced that he
was speaking the truth. The alterna-
tive was that some one passing had OBJ
served the key In the door, had known
that was out and had entered to look
at the papers. A large sum Of money
is at stake, for the scholarship is a
very valuable one, and an INSCRIPTIONS
man might very well run a risk In or
der to gain an advantage over his fell
lows.
'Bannister was very much upset by
the incident. He had nearly tainted
when we found that the papers had
undoubtedly been tempered with. I
gaye him a little brandy and left him
collapsed In chair while I made
most careful examination of the room.
I soon saw that the intruder had left
other traces of his presence besides the
rumpled papers. On the table In the
window were several shreds from
pencil which had been sharpened. A
broken tip Of lead was lying there also.
Evidently the rascal had copied the
paper In great hurry, had broken his
pencil and had been compelled to put
fresh point to It."
"Excellentw said Holmes, who was
recovering his good humor as his at
tention became more engrossed by the
case. Fortune has been your friend"
This was not all. have a new
writing table with fine surface Of
red leather. ! am prepared to swear,
4