Morris tribune. [volume] (Morris, Minn.) 1880-2000, 1905-07-22
CONTINUED

'Cneck numDer one, said Holmes
looking gloomily over the rolling ex
panse of the moor. There is anothe
morass down yonder, and narrow
neck between. Hello! Hello! Hello
What have we here?
We had come on small black ribbon
iy marked on the sodden soil, was the
track of a bicycle.
"Hurrah!' 1 cried. eve have it,
But Holmes was shaking his head
and his face was puzzled and expectant
rather than joyous.
"a bicycle, certainly, but not the BIZ
cycle" said he. Il am familiar with
forty-two different impressions left by
tires. This, as you perceive is a Dun
Top, with patch upon the outer cover
Heidegger's tires were Palmers, leav-
ing longitudinal stripes. Aveling, the
mathematical master, was sure upon
the point. Therefore it is not Heideg-
gers track"
The boys, then?'
POSSIBLY. if we could prove a bicy-
this we have utterly failed to do. This
track, as you perceive, was made by a
rider who was going from the direction
Of the school,"
''Or toward it?'
''No, no, my dear Watson. The more
deeply sunk impression is, Of course,
the hind Wheel upon which the weight
rests. You perceive several places
where it has passed across and obliter-
ated the more shallow mark Of the
front one It was undoubtedly head
ing away from the school. It may Or
may not be connected with our in
CURRY, but we will follow it backward
before we go any farther"
We did So and at the end of a few
hundred yards lost the tracks as we
emerged from the Doggy portion of the
moor Following the path backward
we picked out another spot where
spring trickled across it, Here, once
again, was the mark Of the bicycle,
though nearly obliterated by the hoofs
Of cows. After that there was no sign,
but the path ran right on into Ragged
Shaw the wood which backed on to
the school From this wood the cycle
must have emerged Holmes sat down
On a bowlder and rested his chin in his
hands. I had smoked two cigarettes
before he moved.
y"Well, WELL" said he at last "It is
OF course possible that a cunning man
might change the tire Of his bicycle In
order to leave unfamiliar tracks. A
criminal who was capable of such a
thought is a man whom I should be
proud to do business with. We will
leave this question undecided and bark
back to our morass again, for we have
left a good deal UNEMPLOYED"
We continued our systematic survey
OF the edge Of the sodden portion of the
moor, and soon our perseverance was
gaoriously rewarded. Right across the
lower part of the bog lay a miry path.
Holmes gave cry of delight as he ap-
preached it, An impression like fine
bundle Of telegraph wires ran down the
neRter Of it 1t was the Palmer tire
"Here is Herr Heidegger, sure
1anough!" cried Holmes exultantly. 'sMy
reasoning seems to have been pretty
sound. Watson"
Il congratulate you"
''But we have long way still to go.
Kindly walk clear Of the path. Now let
ms follow the trail. 1 fear that it will
not lead very far"
We found, however, as we advanced
that this portion of the moor Is inter
sected with soft patches, and, though
we frequently lost sight Of the track,
We always succeeded in picking it up
once more.
do you observe said Holmes, ''that
fhe rider is now undoubtedly forcing
the pace? There can be no doubt Of it,
Look at this impression, where you get
both tires clear. The one is as deep as
khe other. That can only mean that the
rider is throwing his weight on to the
handle bar, as man does when he is
sprinting. By Jove, he has had fallr
There was broad, irregular smudge
covering some yards of the track. Then
there were few footmarks, and the
7SAre reappeared once more.
"a side Slip" suggested.
Holmes held up crumpled branch
OF Towering gorse To my horror I
perceived that the yellow blossoms
were all dabbled with crimson. On the
path. too, and among the heather were
dark stains of clotted blood.
Badv said Holmes. "Bad! Stand
clear, Watson! Not an unnecessary
6Octstep! What do I read here? He
fell wounded he stood up-he remount-
ed-he proceeded. But there is no
efher track. Cattle on this side path.
He was surely not gored by bull? |
impossible! But / see no traces Of I
any one else We must push on, Wat
son. Surely, with stains as well as the
track to guide, he cannot escape us
nov"