The star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1908-1909, 1908-03-31

I had so lately descended. 1t had
taken me an hour to come down. For
all my efforts two more lac passed
before l found myself at the fall of
Reichenbach once more. There was
Holiness. Alpine-stock still leaning
against the rock by which [ had left
him. But there was no sign of him.
and 1t was in vain that I shouted.
My only answer was my own voice
reverberating in a rolling echo from
the cliffs aroun me.
It 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 on side and
sheer drop on the other, until his enemy
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?
l stood for a minute or two to coll
lect myself. for I 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
DoAAAAb - &OiAN = w O.
not zone 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 incessant
drift of spray. and a bird would leave
its tread upon 1t. Two lines OF foot
marks were clearly marked along the
farther end of the path, both leading
away from me. There were none re-
turning. A few yards from the end
the soil was all ploughed up into q
patch of mud, and the brambles and
ferns which fringed the chasm were
torn and bedraggled. ! lay Upon my
face and peered over with the spray
spouting up all around me. II had
darkened since I left, and now 1 could
only see here n there the glistening
Of moisture upon the black walls, and
far way 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 ears.
But 1t was destined that | should
after all haVe a last word of greeting
from my old friend and comrade. +
have said hat his Alpine-stock had
been left leaning against a rock which
Jutted on the path. From the top of
this bowlder the CLEAN of something
bright caught my eye, and, raising
my hand, / found that 1t came from
the silver eigaraSse case which he used
to carry. AS L took 1t up a square Of
paper upon which It had lain nuttered
down on to the ground. Unfolding II.
l found that 1t consisted of three pages
torn from his notebook and addressed
to me. 1t was characteristic of the man
that the direction was as precise, and
the writing as firm and clear as
though it had been written in his study.
MY dear Watson" it said, II write
these few lines through the courtesy Of
Mr.. Moriarty, who awaits my conve-
nience for the final discussion of those
questions which lie between us. He
has been giving me a sketch of the
methods by which he avoided the Eng
lish police and kept himself informed
of our movements. They certainly con-
firm the very high opinion which /
had formed of his abilities. | am
pleased to think that / shall be able To
free society from n further effects OF
his presence, though l fear that 1t IS
at a cost which will give pain to my
friends, and especially, my lear Wat
son, to you. l have already explained
~ GOhs 0Niis lidl NY CdlttI lldu
in any case reached its crisis, and that
no possible conclusion to it could be
more congenial to me than this. In
deed. If ] may make a full confession
to you, l was convinced that the letter
from Meiringen was a hoax, and /
allowed you to depart on that GRAND
under the persuasion that some devel-
opment of this sort would follow. Tell
Inspector Patterson that the papers
which he needs to convict the gang are
in pigeonhole M, done up in a blue
envelope and inscribed Moriarty.' I
made every disposition of my property
before leaving England, and handed it
to my brother Mycroft. Pray give my
greetings to Mrs. Watson, and believe
me to be, my dear fellow, very sincerely
yours. SHERLOCK HOLINESS
A few words may suffice to tell the
little that remains. An examination by
experts leaves little doubt that q per-
sonal contest between the two men
ended, as it could hardly fail to end
in such a situation, in their Keeling
over. locked in each others arms. Any
attempt at recovering the bodies was
absolutely hopeless, and there, deep
down in that dreadful caldron of swirl
ing water and seething foam, will lie
for ell time the most dangerous crimi-
nal and the foremost champion Of the
law of their generation. The Swsis
youth was never found again, and there
can be no doubt that he was one OF
the numerous agents whom Moriarty
kept in his employ. AS to the gang,
IL will be within the memory of the
public how completely the evidence
which Holmes had accumulated ex-
posed their organization, and how
heavily the hand of the dead man
weighed upon them. OF their terrible
chief few details came out during the
proceedings. and if 1 have now beer
compelled to make a clear statement of
his career, it is due to those injudicious
champions who have endeavored to
clear his memoir by attacks upon him
whom I shall ever regard as the best
and the wisest man whom / have ever
known.
1.-THE End.l