Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1912-07-18

visible amid the blue swirl Of his to-
bacco smoke. his black brows drawn
down, his forehead contracted, his
syso vacant and far away. Finally.
b spraAg to his SssI
TT won't DO. Watson!" said he.
With . laugh "Lsk . walk along tAS
cliffs together and search for dint n.
rowA. We are moro likely to ind
them than elpas 10 tAis problem. 10
let the brain work without sufficient
material II like racing IN enigma It
racks itself to pieces. The sea air.
sunshine. and patis0eet Wats0a-aN
else will come.
Nov, let N calmly define cur 20
sition, Watson" he continued. as We
skiHted the clifls together. Let us
ct arm grip q the very little which
We do know. SO that when fresh facts
arise We may be ready to At them Into
their places. take It, In the first
place. that neither Of us 10 prepared
to admit diabolical tntrusions into
the affairs of men. Let us begin by
ruling that entirely out Of our minds.
Very good. There remain three per
sons who have been grtevously strtck-
en- BY some conscious or unconscious
human agency. That Il firm ground.
Now. when did thfa oecar9 Evidently,
assuming his narrative to be true, It
was Immediately after Mr.. Mortimer
T1sgennis had left the room. That
is q very important point. The pre-
sumption il that It was within few
minutes afterwards. The cards still
lay upon the table. II was already
past their usual hour for bed. Yet
they had not changed their position.
I repeat. then. that the occurrence
was Immediately after his departure,
and not later than eleven o'clock last
night.
Our next obvious step is to check,
so far as we can, the movements Of
Mortimer Tregennis after he left the
room. In this thers il no difficulty,
and they seem to b above suspicion.
knowing my methods as you do. you
were, of course, conscious Of the some
what clumsy waterproof expedient by
which obtained clearer impress Of
his foot than might otherwise have
been possible. Tho wet, sandy path
took It admirably, Last night was
also wet. you will remember, and 1t
was not Misunderstanding obtained .
sample print-to pick out his track
among others and to- follow Ais move
ments. He appear to have walked
swiftly in ths df1cfssn q M vicar-
age.
III. then. Mortimer Trssennis disap-
peared from the seems. and yet some
outside person Affected the card play
ers. how can we reconstruct that per
son, ana how was such an ippression
Of horror conveyed! Mrs. Porter
may be eliminated. SAs IL evidently
harm;esst.sN there Say evidence, that
some one acrept up.tO the garden win
dow and In, some manner produced 70
terrific an effect that he drove those
who saw It out of their senses? The
only suggestion in this direction
comes from Mortimer Tregennis him
self, who says that his brother spoke
about some movement In the garden.
That is certainly remarkable, as the
night WAS rainy, cloudy and dark.
Anyone who had the design, to alarm
these people would - compelled to
place His very facs against the glass
before hsscould be seen. There Is q
throe-foot flower border outside this
window. but no indication Of . foot
mark \ = dtalcslt. 70 imsstne. thsn.
how an outsider could have made 90
terrible an fmpSessi6n upon the COM
Dany. nor have We found any motive
for 80 strange and elaboEate an At
tempt. You psrestys cur difficulties.
Watson
''Thsy are only too clear" an
swsred, with coryietfon.
And yet. with . little moro mate
rial. We may prove that they arc not
insurmountabls." said HolmsA Il
fancy that smong your extensive ~
chivos. Watson, you may md some
which were nearly - obscure. Mean.
while. We shall put ths case aside IN.
til moro accurate data are availabIs.
and devote the morning % the pursuit
Of nseittAic man.
I may have commented upon my
friends power Of mental detachment,
but nsvsr have wondered Ut It more
than upon that spring morning In
Cornwall when for two hours he dis
ceurssd upon csits, arFowheads and
shards % lightly % II no sinister mys-
tory was waiting for his solution. Il
vas not until W had returned In tho
afternoon to our cottage that We found
Q visitor awaiting ~, who soon
brought our minds back to the matter
u hand Neither Of ~ needed 70 be
told who that visitor was. The hugs
body. the craggy and deeply scanned
face with tho fierce eyes and hawk
like nose. the grizzled hair which
nearly brushed our cottage ceiling,
the beard-solden at the fringes and
white near the lips. save for tho nico-
tine stain from his perpetual casar-
Ill thsss wsee - well known IN Lon
don - in Africa, and could only be
associated With the personality Of
DR.. Leon 9terndale, tho great Hon
hunter and explorer.
We had heard Of his presence in the
district. and had once or twice causht
sight Of his tall Asurs upon. lie noor-
land paths. He maAe 70 advancss to
~. however. nor woa1a W have
dreamed Il Aoing . - lin, @ Il was.
well known that II was his love Of -
clusion which caused him TO spend the
greater part Of The Intervals. .betvsen