The Washington herald., 1912-02-18

.s oOWht NVWS nau teIt tnetE
tracks. Nothing more. ~
Check number one said Holmes.
looking gloomily over the fullina ex-
panse Of the moor. "There IS another
morass down yonder, and a narrow
neck between. Halloai hoalioa holloa I
what have we hereH
We had come on small black rib
bon OF pathway In the middle OF Il.
clearly marked on the sodden soil. was
the track of a bicycle
-Hurrah" cried. I'VE have its
But Holmes was shaking his head.
and his face was puzzled and expec-
tant rather than Joyous.
"A bicycle, certainly, but not the
bicycle" said he Il am familiar with
torty-two different impressions left by
tires, This. as you perceive, is Dun
lop. with patch upon the outer cover.
Heideggers tires were Palmers, leav-
ing longitudinal stripes Ayeling, the
matnematieal master, was sure upon
the point. Therefore, it is not Heideg-
''The boys, them"
b have been in his possession. But
this we have utterly failed to do. This
track, as you perceive, was made BY
ride! who was going from the direction
Of the school"
-Or toward it1p
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 i has passed across and obIit-
Grated the more shallow mark OF the
front one II was undoubtedly heading
away from the school. II may or may
not be connected with our inquiry but
we viii follow It backward before we
60 any farther"
We did so. and at the end Of few
hundred yards lost the tracks as we
emerged from the boggy portion of the
moor. Following the path backward,
We picked out another spot where a
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
boulder, and rested his chin in his
hands. had smoked two cigarettes
before he moved.
We'll, well. said he, at last. at 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 man whom | should be
proud to do business with We will
leave this question undecided and bark
back to our morass again, for we have
lett good deal unexplored"
We continued our systematic survey
Of the edge of the sodden portion OF
tne moor and soon our perseverance,
was gloriously rewarded. Right across
the lower part Of the bog Isy a miry
path. Holmes gave a cry Of delight as
he approached IT, An impression like
a fie bundle Of telegraph wires ran
down the center of It. II was the Pal
mer tire.
Here is Herr Heideeger, sure
enough cried Holmes, exultantly.
my reasoning seems to have been
pretty sound, Watson"
Il congratulate you"
But we have a long way still to 20.
Kindly walk clear OF the path. Now
let us follow the trail / fear that Il
VIII not lead very far"
We found, however, as we advanced
that this portion Of the moor is in
terseeted 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
the rider is now undoubtedly forcing
the pacel There can be no doubt of
IT. Look at this impression, where YOU
get both tires clear. The one is as
deep as the other, That can only mean
that the rider is throwing his weight
on to the handle-bar as man does
when he is sprintinR. By love he has
had fall"
There was broad, irregular smudge
covering some yards of the track Then
there were few footmarks, and the
tire reappeared once more.
. A side-slip," suggested
Holmes held no crumpled branch of
towering gorse, To my horror, | per-
eeiyed that the yellow blossoms were all
dabbled with crimson On the path,
too, and among the heather were dark
stains OF clotted blood