The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1911-10-17

an air of a man who sees the fulfill
ment of that which he had expected.
nj Yet, for all his watchfulness he
was V depressed. On the contrary
L can never recollect having seen him
IN such exuberant spirits. Again and
again ne REQUIRED to the fact that if
ne could De assured that society was
freed from Professor Moriarty he
would cheerfufly bring his own ca
reer to a conclusion.
I think l may go so far as to say.
Watson, that l have not lived wholly
IN Vain,' he remarked. If my record
were closed tonight l could still survey
1t with equaninity. The air of Lon
don is the sweeter for my presence. In
over a thousand cases l am not aware
n a l have ever used my power upon
the wrong side. OF late l have been
tempted to look into the problems
furnished by nature rather than those
more superficial ones for which our
artlflclal state of society is RESPONSE
olt, Your memoirs will draw to an
end, watson, upon the day that I
crown my career by the capture or
extinction of the most dangerous and
capable criminal in Europe"
L shall be brief. and Vet exact. in
the little which remains for me to tell
1t is not a subject On which would
willingly dwell, and yet 1 am conscious
that a duty d~evolves upon me to omit
no detail.
1t was on the Sd of May that we
cached the little village of Meiringen.
where we put up at the Englischer
HOf. then kept by Peter Steiler the
elder. Our landlord was an intelli-
gent mar n spoke excellent Eng
lish, having served for three years as
waiter at the Grosvenor Hotel in Lon
don. At his advice, on the afternoon
OF the Attn we set off together, with
the intention Of crossing the hills
and spending the night at the hamlet
of ROsenlaOi. We had strict in
functions, however, on no cot to
pass the falls of Reichenbach, which
are about halfway up the Hill. with
out making a small detour to see
them.
1t is, indeed, a fearful place. The
torrent, swollen by the melting snow
plunges into a tremendous abyss
from which the spray rolls up like
the smoke from a burning house. The
shaft into which the river hurls itself
is an immense chasm, lined by glisten-
ing cOal-black rock, and narrowing
into a Dreaming, boiling pit Of in
calculable depth, which brims over
and shoots the stream onward over 1t:
jagged lip. The long sweep Of greer
water roaring forever down, and the
thick Pickering curtain Of spray hiss
in forever upward, turn a man gidd.
with their constant whirl and clamor
We stood near the edge peering dow
at the CLEAN of the breaking water ia:
below US against the black rocks, ant
listening to the ~half-human shou
which came booming up with tn
spray out of the abyss.
The path has been cut half-Wa,
round the fall to afford a complet
view, but it ends abruptly, and tn
traveller has to return as he came
We had turned to do so, when w,
saw a Swiss lad come running alon.
it with a letter in his hand. 1t bor'
the mark Of the hotel which we ha(
just left, and was addressed to m,
by the landlord. It appeared tina
within a very few minutes Of our leaV
ing, an English lady had arrived wh'
was in the last stage of consumption
She had Wintered at Davos PlatZ, am
was j~ourneying now to join he
friends at Lucerne, when a suddel
hemorrhage had overtaken her. /
was thought that she could hardly liv,
a few hours, but it would be a grea
consolation to her to see an Englisl
doctor, and, if I would only return
etc. The good Steiler assured me in
postscript that he would himself lool
upon my compliance as a very grea
favor. since the lady absolutely refused
to see a Swiss physician, and he coult
not but feel that he was %incurrin:
a great responsibility.
The appeal was one which could no
be ignored. 1t was impossible to re
fuse the request Of a fe1~ioW-cOuntry
woman dying in a strange land. Ye
I had my %scruples about leavin:
Holmes. 1t was finally agreed, how
ever, that he should retain the youn'
Swiss messenger with him as guild
and companion while | returned t
Meiringen. My friend would stay som
little time at the fall, he Saids an
would then walk slowly over the hill
to Rosenlaui, where / was to rejoil
him in the evening. AS turned ava,
I saw Holmes. with his back agalns
a rock n his arms folded, gain
down at the rush of the waters. l
was the last that l was ever destine'
to see of him in this world.
When l was near the bottom Of tn
descent / looked back. It was i'm
possible, from hat position, to Sc
the fall, but / could see the curry
ing path which winds over tn