Omaha daily bee., 1905-11-05
Continued from Page Two)

Continued from Page Two)
Ritual would then be fulfilled. And the
shadow of the elm must mean the farther
end of the shadow, otherwise the trunk
would kave been chosen as the guide. 1
had. then, to find where the far end Of the
shadow would fall when the sun was just
clear Of the oak"
THAT must have been difficult, Holmes.
when the elm was no longer there"
"Well. at least 1 know that IL Brunton
could do it, 1 could also. Besides, there
was no real difficulty. went with Mus
grave to his study and whitfield myself this
peg. to which tied this long string with a
knot at each yard Then took two lengths
of a fishing rod, which came to just six
feet, and 1 went back with my client to
where the elm had been. The sun was just
grazing the top of the oak. I fastened the
rod on end, marked out the direction OF
the shadow, and measured It. 1t was nine
feet in length.
"Of course the calculation now was a
simple one. II a rod of six feet threw a
shadow OF nine, a tree OF sixty-four feet
would throw one of ninty-six. and the
line OF the one would. OF course. be the
line of the other. measured out the dis
lance, which brought me almost to the
wall Of the house, and thrust a peg into
the spot. You can imagine my exultation,
Watson, when within two inches Of the
peg / saw a conical depression in the
ground. knew that It was the mark made
by Brunton in his measurements, and that
I was still on his trail
From this starting point I proceeded 10
STEP having frst taken the cardinal points
by my pocket compass. Ten steps with
each foot took me along parallel with the
wall of the house, and again I marked
my spot with a peg. Then i carefully
paced off five feet to the east and two to
the south. II brought me to the very
Threshold OF the old door. Two steps to
the west meant now that was to go two
PAGES down tho stone-fagged passage and
this wns the place indicated by the Ritual.
Never have / felt such a cold chill OF
disappointment. Watson. For a moment II
seemed TO me that there must be some
radical mistake In my calculations. The
setting sun shone full upon the passage
floor. and I could see that the old, foot
worn gray stones with which 1t was paved
were firmly cemented together, and had GER
tainly not been moved for many a long
year. Brunton had not been at work here.
I tapped upon the floor, but It sounded the
same all over, and there was no sign OF
any crack or crevice. But fortunately,
Musgrave. who had begun to appreciate
the meaning Of my proceedings and who
was now as excited as myself, took out
his manuscript TO check my calculations
And under he cried. You have
omitted the land under"
Il had thought that II meant that We
were to dig, but now, OF course, saw al
once that was wrong. There is cellar
under this. then cried.
{" Yes, and as old as the house. Dow
here. through this DOOR
1--WE went down a winding stone stair
ana my companion, striking a match. lit I
large lantern which stood on a barrel II
the corner. In an instant II was Obviou
that We had az last come upon the tru
place, and that we had not been the onll
people 20 visit the spot recently.
1T had been used for the storage o
wood, but the billets. which had evidentl,
been Uttered over the floor. were noV
piled at the side. so as 20 leave a clea