Sentence:  [O]ur conjectures were like arrows ſhot in the dark—they were <WSD>wide of the mark</WSD>—till an old gentleman came into the room, who after affixing his ſpectacles on the ſuperior part of an aquiline noſe, told us—"he ſmelt a rat!" 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  (Very) inaccurate.