The Adventure of The Engineers Thumb - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

<v Speaker 1>The adventure of the Engineer's Thumb. Of all the problems
<v Speaker 1>which have been submitted to my friend mister Sherlock Holmes
<v Speaker 1>for solution during the years of our intimacy, there were
<v Speaker 1>only two which I was the means of introducing to
<v Speaker 1>his notice, that of mister Hatherley's Thumb and that of
<v Speaker 1>Colonel Warburton's Madness. Of these, the latter may have afforded
<v Speaker 1>a finer view for an acute and original observer, but
<v Speaker 1>the other was so strange in its inception and so
<v Speaker 1>dramatic in its details, that it may be the more
<v Speaker 1>worthy of being placed upon record, even if it gave
<v Speaker 1>my friend fewer openings for those deductive methods of reasoning
<v Speaker 1>by which he achieved such remarkable results. The story has,
<v Speaker 1>I believe, been told more than once in the newspapers,
<v Speaker 1>but like all such narratives, its effect is much less
<v Speaker 1>striking when set forth on block in a single half
<v Speaker 1>column of print, than when the facts slowly evolve before
<v Speaker 1>your own eyes, and the mystery clears gradually away as
<v Speaker 1>each new discovery furnishes a step which leads on to
<v Speaker 1>the complete truth. At the time, the circumstances made a
<v Speaker 1>deep impression upon me, and the lapse of two years
<v Speaker 1>has hardly served to weaken the effect. It was in
<v Speaker 1>the summer of eighty nine, not long after my marriage,
<v Speaker 1>that the events occurred which I am now about to summarize.
<v Speaker 1>I had returned to civil practice, and had finally abandoned
<v Speaker 1>homes in his Baker's street rooms, although I continually visited him,
<v Speaker 1>and occasionally even persuaded him to forego his bohemian habits
<v Speaker 1>so far as to come and visit us. My practice
<v Speaker 1>had steadily increased, and as I happened to live at
<v Speaker 1>no very great distance from Paddington's station, I got a
<v Speaker 1>few patients from among the officials. One of these whom
<v Speaker 1>I had cured of a painful and lingering disease. Was
<v Speaker 1>never weary of advertising my virtues and of endeavoring to
<v Speaker 1>send me on every sufferer over whom he might have
<v Speaker 1>any influence. One morning, at a little before seven o'clock,
<v Speaker 1>I was awakened by the maid tapping at the door
<v Speaker 1>to announce that two men had come from Paddington and
<v Speaker 1>were waiting in the consulting room. I dressed hurriedly, for
<v Speaker 1>I knew by experience that railway cases were seldom trivial
<v Speaker 1>and hastened downstairs. As I descended my old ally, the
<v Speaker 1>guard came out of the room and closed the door
<v Speaker 1>tightly behind him. I've got him in here, he whispered,
<v Speaker 1>jerking his thumb over his shoulder. He's all right. What
<v Speaker 1>is it? Then? I asked for his manner suggested that
<v Speaker 1>it was some strange creature which he had caged up
<v Speaker 1>in my room. It's a new patient, he whispered. I
<v Speaker 1>thought i'd bring him round myself. Then he couldn't slip
<v Speaker 1>away there he is all safe and sound. I must
<v Speaker 1>go now, doctor, I have my duties just the same
<v Speaker 1>as you. And off he went, this trusty toute, without
<v Speaker 1>even giving me time to thank him. I entered my
<v Speaker 1>consulting room and found a gentleman seated by the table.
<v Speaker 1>He was quietly dressed in a suit of heather tweed,
<v Speaker 1>with a soft cloth cap which he had laid down
<v Speaker 1>upon my books. Round one of his hands. He had
<v Speaker 1>a handkerchief wrapped which was mottled all over with blood stains.
<v Speaker 1>He was young, not more than five and twenty, i
<v Speaker 1>should say, with a strong masculine face, but he was
<v Speaker 1>exceedingly pale, and gave me the impression of a man
<v Speaker 1>who was suffering from some strong agitation which it took
<v Speaker 1>all his strength of mind to control. I am sorry
<v Speaker 1>to knock you up so early, doctor, he said, but
<v Speaker 1>I have had a very serious accident during the night.
<v Speaker 1>I came in by train this morning, and on inquiring
<v Speaker 1>at Paddington as to where I might find a doctor,
<v Speaker 1>a worthy fellow very kindly escorted me here. I gave
<v Speaker 1>the maid a card, but I see that she has
<v Speaker 1>left it upon the side table. I took it up
<v Speaker 1>and glanced at it. Mister Victor Heatherley, hydraulic engineer, sixteen
<v Speaker 1>a Victoria's Street, third floor. That was the name, style
<v Speaker 1>and abode of my morning visitor. I regret that I
<v Speaker 1>have kept you waiting, said I, sitting down in my
<v Speaker 1>library chair. You are fresh from a night journey, I understand,
<v Speaker 1>which is in itself a monotonous occupation. Oh my night
<v Speaker 1>could not be called monotonous, said he, and laughed. He
<v Speaker 1>laughed very heartily, with a high ringing note, leaning back
<v Speaker 1>in his chair and shaking his sides. All my medical
<v Speaker 1>instincts rose up against that laugh. Stop it, I cried,
<v Speaker 1>pull yourself together, and I poured out some water from
<v Speaker 1>a craft. It was useless. However, he was off in
<v Speaker 1>one of those hysterical outbursts which come upon a strong
<v Speaker 1>nature when some great crisis is over and gone. Presently,
<v Speaker 1>he came to himself once more, very weary and pale looking.
<v Speaker 1>I have been making a fool of myself, he gasped,
<v Speaker 1>Not at all, drink this. I dashed some brandy into
<v Speaker 1>the water, and the color began to come back to
<v Speaker 1>his bloodless cheeks. That's better, said he. And now, doctor,
<v Speaker 1>perhaps you would kindly attend to my thumb, or rather
<v Speaker 1>to the place where my thumb used to be. He
<v Speaker 1>unwound the handkerchief and held out his hand. It gave
<v Speaker 1>even my hardened nerves a shudder to look at it.
<v Speaker 1>There were four protruding fingers and a horrid red, spongy
<v Speaker 1>surface where the thumb should have been. It had been
<v Speaker 1>hacked or torn right out from the roots. Good Heavens,
<v Speaker 1>I cried, this is a terrible injury. It must have
<v Speaker 1>bled considerably. Yes it did. I fainted when it was done,
<v Speaker 1>and I think that I must have been senseless for
<v Speaker 1>a long time. When I came to, I found that
<v Speaker 1>it was still bleeding. So I tied one end of
<v Speaker 1>my handkerchief very tightly round the wrist, and braced it
<v Speaker 1>up with a twig. Excellent. You should have been a surgeon.
<v Speaker 1>It is a question of hydraulics, you see, and came
<v Speaker 1>within my own province. This has been done, said I,
<v Speaker 1>examining the wound by a very heavy and sharp instrument,
<v Speaker 1>a thing like a cleaver, said he, an accident, I
<v Speaker 1>presume by no means what a murderous attack. Very murderous. Indeed,
<v Speaker 1>you horrify me. I sponged the wound, cleaned it, dressed it,
<v Speaker 1>and finally covered it over with cotton wadding and carbalized bandages.
<v Speaker 1>He lay back without wincing, though he bit his lip
<v Speaker 1>from time to time. How is that? I asked? When
<v Speaker 1>I had finished capital between your brand and your bandage,
<v Speaker 1>I feel a new man. I was very weak, but
<v Speaker 1>I've had a good deal to go through. Perhaps you
<v Speaker 1>had better not speak of the matter. It is evidently
<v Speaker 1>trying to your nerves. Oh no, not now. Now I
<v Speaker 1>shall have to tell my tale to the police, but
<v Speaker 1>between ourselves. If it were not for the convincing evidence
<v Speaker 1>of this wound of mine, I should be surprised if
<v Speaker 1>they believed my statement, for it is a very extraordinary one,
<v Speaker 1>and I have not much in the way of proof
<v Speaker 1>with which to back it up. And even if they
<v Speaker 1>believe me, the clues which I can give them are
<v Speaker 1>so vague that it is a question whether justice will
<v Speaker 1>be done. Hah, cried I. If it is anything in
<v Speaker 1>the nature of a problem which you desired to see solved,
<v Speaker 1>I should strongly recommend you come to my friend, mister
<v Speaker 1>Sherlock Holmes before you go to the official police. Oh,
<v Speaker 1>I have heard of that fellow, answered my visitor, and
<v Speaker 1>I should be very glad if he would take the
<v Speaker 1>matter up, though of course I must use the official
<v Speaker 1>police as well. Would you give me an introduction to him?
<v Speaker 1>I'll do better. I'll take you round to him myself.
<v Speaker 1>I should be immensely obliged to you. We'll call a
<v Speaker 1>cab and go together. We shall just be in time
<v Speaker 1>to have a little breakfast with him. Do you feel
<v Speaker 1>equal to it? Yes, I shall not feel easy until
<v Speaker 1>I have told my story. Then my servant will call
<v Speaker 1>a cab and I shall be with you. In an instant,
<v Speaker 1>I rushed upstairs, explain the matter shortly to my wife,
<v Speaker 1>and in five minutes was inside a hansom, driving with
<v Speaker 1>my new acquaintance to Baker Street. Sherlock Holmes was as
<v Speaker 1>I expected, lounging about his sitting room in his dressing gown,
<v Speaker 1>reading the agony column of the Times, and smoking his
<v Speaker 1>before breakfast pipe, which was composed of all the plugs
<v Speaker 1>and dattles left from his smokes of the day before,
<v Speaker 1>all carefully dried and collected in the corner of the
<v Speaker 1>mantel piece. He received us in his quietly genial fashion,
<v Speaker 1>ordered fresh rashers and eggs, and joined us in a
<v Speaker 1>hearty meal. When it was concluded, he settled our new
<v Speaker 1>acquaintance upon the sofa, placed a pillow beneath his head,
<v Speaker 1>and laid a glass of brandy and water within his reach.
<v Speaker 1>It is easy to see that your experience has been
<v Speaker 1>no common one, mister Hatherley, said, he pray, lie down
<v Speaker 1>there and make yourself absolutely at home. Tell us what
<v Speaker 1>you can, but stop when you are tired, and keep
<v Speaker 1>up your strength with a little stimulant. Thank you, said
<v Speaker 1>my patient. But I have felt another man since the
<v Speaker 1>doctor bandaged me, and I think that your breakfast has
<v Speaker 1>completed the cure. I shall take up as little of
<v Speaker 1>your valuable time as possible, so I shall start at
<v Speaker 1>once upon my peculiar experiences. Holmes sat in his big
<v Speaker 1>arm chair with the weary, heavy lidded expression which failed
<v Speaker 1>his keen and eager nature, while I sat opposite to him,
<v Speaker 1>and we listened in silence to the strange story which
<v Speaker 1>our visitor detailed to us. You must know, said he
<v Speaker 1>that I am an orphan and a bachelor, residing alone
<v Speaker 1>in lodgings in London. By profession, I'm a hydraulic engineer,
<v Speaker 1>and I have had considerable experience of my work during
<v Speaker 1>the seven years that I was apprenticed to Venner and Matheson,
<v Speaker 1>the well known firm of Greenwich. Two years ago, having
<v Speaker 1>served my time, and having also come into a fair
<v Speaker 1>sum of money through my poor father's death, I determined
<v Speaker 1>to start in business for myself and took professional chambers
<v Speaker 1>in Victorious Street. I suppose that every one finds his
<v Speaker 1>first independent start in business a dreary experience. To me,
<v Speaker 1>it has been exceptionally so. During two years I've had
<v Speaker 1>three consultations in one small job, and that is absolutely
<v Speaker 1>all that my profession has brought me. My gross takings
<v Speaker 1>amount to twenty seven pounds ten shillings every day from
<v Speaker 1>nine in the morning until four in the afternoon. I
<v Speaker 1>waited in my little den, until at last my heart
<v Speaker 1>began to sink, and I came to believe that I
<v Speaker 1>should never have any practice at all. Yesterday, however, just
<v Speaker 1>as I was thinking of leaving the office, my clerk
<v Speaker 1>entered to say, there was a gentleman waiting who wished
<v Speaker 1>to see me upon business. He brought up a card too,
<v Speaker 1>with the name of Colonel Lysander Stark engraved upon it.
<v Speaker 1>Close at his heels came the colonel himself, a man
<v Speaker 1>rather over the middle size, but of an exceeding thinness.
<v Speaker 1>I do not think that I have ever seen so
<v Speaker 1>thin a man. His whole face sharpened away into nose
<v Speaker 1>and chin, and the skin of his cheeks was drawn
<v Speaker 1>quite tense over his outstanding bones. Yet this emaciation seemed
<v Speaker 1>to be his natural habit, and due to no disease,
<v Speaker 1>for his eye was bright, his step brisk and bearing,
<v Speaker 1>assured he was plainly but neatly dressed. And his age,
<v Speaker 1>I should judge, would be nearer forty than thirty. Mister Hatherley,
<v Speaker 1>said he, with something of a German accent. You've been
<v Speaker 1>recommended to me, mister Hatherley as being a man who
<v Speaker 1>is not only proficient in his profession, but is also
<v Speaker 1>discreet and capable of preserving a secret. I bowed, feeling
<v Speaker 1>as flattered as any young man would at such an address.
<v Speaker 1>May ask who it was who gave me so good
<v Speaker 1>a character. Well, perhaps it is better that I should
<v Speaker 1>not tell you that just at this moment I have
<v Speaker 1>it from the same source that you are both an
<v Speaker 1>orphan and a bachelor and are residing alone in London.
<v Speaker 1>That is quite correct, I answered, But you will excuse
<v Speaker 1>me if I say that I cannot see how all
<v Speaker 1>this bears upon my professional qualifications. I understand that it was
<v Speaker 1>on a professional matter that you wish to speak to me,
<v Speaker 1>undoubtedly so, but you will find that all I say
<v Speaker 1>is really to the point I have a professional commission
<v Speaker 1>for you. But absolute secrecy is quite essential. Absolute secrecy,
<v Speaker 1>you understand, and of course we may expect that more
<v Speaker 1>from a man who is alone than from one who
<v Speaker 1>lives in the bosom of his family. If I promise
<v Speaker 1>to keep a secret, said I, you may absolutely depend
<v Speaker 1>upon my doing so. He looked very hard at me
<v Speaker 1>as I spoke, and it seemed to me that I
<v Speaker 1>had never seen so suspicious and questioning an eye. Do
<v Speaker 1>you promise, then, he said, at last, yes, I promise
<v Speaker 1>absolute and complete silence, before, during, and after no reference
<v Speaker 1>to the matter at all, either in word or writing.
<v Speaker 1>I have already given you my word. Very good. He
<v Speaker 1>suddenly sprang up and, darting like lightning across the room.
<v Speaker 1>He flung open the door. The passage outside was empty.
<v Speaker 1>That's all right, said he, coming back. I know that
<v Speaker 1>clerks are sometimes curious as to their master's affairs. Now
<v Speaker 1>we can talk in safety. He drew up his chair
<v Speaker 1>very close to mine and began to stare at me
<v Speaker 1>again with the same questioning and thoughtful look. A feeling
<v Speaker 1>of repulsion and of something akin to fear had begun
<v Speaker 1>to writes within me at the strange antics of this
<v Speaker 1>fleshless man. Even my dread of losing a client could
<v Speaker 1>not restrain me from showing my impatience. I beg that
<v Speaker 1>you will state your business, sir, said I. My time
<v Speaker 1>is of value. Heaven forgive me for that last sentence,
<v Speaker 1>But the words came to my lips. How would fifty
<v Speaker 1>guineas for a knight's work suit you? He asked most admirably.
<v Speaker 1>I say a night's work, but an hour's would be
<v Speaker 1>nearer the mark. I simply want your opinion about a
<v Speaker 1>hydraulic stamping machine which has got out of gear. If
<v Speaker 1>you show us what is wrong, we shall soon set
<v Speaker 1>it right ourselves. What do you think of such a
<v Speaker 1>commission as that? The work appears to be light and
<v Speaker 1>the pay munificent. Precisely so, we shall want you to
<v Speaker 1>come to night by the last train where too, to
<v Speaker 1>Ayford in Berkshire. It is a little place near the
<v Speaker 1>borders of Oxfordshire, and within seven miles of reading. There
<v Speaker 1>is a train from Paddington which would bring you there
<v Speaker 1>at about eleven fifteen. Very good. I shall come down
<v Speaker 1>in a carriage to meet you. There is a drive then, Yes,
<v Speaker 1>our little place is quite out in the country. It
<v Speaker 1>is a good seven miles from Ayford station. Then we
<v Speaker 1>can hardly get there before midnight. I suppose there be
<v Speaker 1>no chance of a train back. I should be compelled
<v Speaker 1>to stop the night. Yes, we could easily give you
<v Speaker 1>a shakedown. That is very awkward. Could I not come
<v Speaker 1>at some more convenient hour? We have judged it best
<v Speaker 1>that you should come late. It is to recompense you
<v Speaker 1>for any inconvenience that we are paying to you, a
<v Speaker 1>young and unknown man, a fee which would buy an
<v Speaker 1>opinion from the very heads of your profession. Still, of course,
<v Speaker 1>if you would like to draw out of the business,
<v Speaker 1>there is plenty of time to do so. I thought
<v Speaker 1>of the fifty guineas of how very useful they would
<v Speaker 1>be to me. Not at all said I, I shall
<v Speaker 1>be very happy to accommodate myself to your wishes. I
<v Speaker 1>should like, however, to understand a little more clearly what
<v Speaker 1>it is that you wish me to do. Quite so,
<v Speaker 1>it is very natural that the pledge of secrecy which
<v Speaker 1>we have exacted from you should have aroused your curiosity.
<v Speaker 1>I have no wish to commit you to anything without
<v Speaker 1>your having it all laid before you. I suppose that
<v Speaker 1>we are absolutely safe from eavesdroppers entirely, then the matter stands.
<v Speaker 1>Thus you are probably aware that Fuller's Earth is a
<v Speaker 1>valuable product, and that it is only found in one
<v Speaker 1>or two places in England. I have heard so. Some
<v Speaker 1>little time ago I bought a small place, a very
<v Speaker 1>small place within ten miles of reading. I was fortunate
<v Speaker 1>enough to discover that there was a deposit of Fuller's
<v Speaker 1>earth in one of my fields. On examining it, however,
<v Speaker 1>I found that this deposit was a comparatively small one,
<v Speaker 1>and that it formed a link between two very much
<v Speaker 1>larger ones upon the right and left both of them. However,
<v Speaker 1>in the grounds of my neighbors. These good people were
<v Speaker 1>absolutely ignorant that their land contained that which was quite
<v Speaker 1>as valuable as a gold mine. Naturally, it was to
<v Speaker 1>my interest to buy their land before they discovered its
<v Speaker 1>true value, but unfortunately I had no capital by which
<v Speaker 1>I could do this. I took a few of my
<v Speaker 1>friends into the secret, however, and they suggested that we
<v Speaker 1>should quietly and secretly work our own little deposit, and
<v Speaker 1>then in this way we should earn the money which
<v Speaker 1>would enable us to buy the neighboring fields. This we
<v Speaker 1>have now been doing for some time, and in order
<v Speaker 1>to help us in the operations, we erected a hydraulic press.
<v Speaker 1>This press, as I've already explained, has got out of order,
<v Speaker 1>and we wish your advice upon the subject. We guard
<v Speaker 1>our secret very jealously, however, and if it once became
<v Speaker 1>known that we had hydraulic engineers coming to our little house,
<v Speaker 1>it would soon rouse inquiry, and then if the facts
<v Speaker 1>came out, it would be good bye to any chance
<v Speaker 1>of getting these fields and carrying out our plans. That
<v Speaker 1>is why I have made you promise me that you
<v Speaker 1>will not tell a human being that you are going
<v Speaker 1>to Aford tonight. I hope that I make it all plain.
<v Speaker 1>I quite follow you, said I. The only point which
<v Speaker 1>I could not quite understand was what use you could
<v Speaker 1>make of a hydraulic press in excavating full as earth, which,
<v Speaker 1>as I understand, is dug out like gravel from a pit.
<v Speaker 1>Ah said he carelessly. We have our own process. We
<v Speaker 1>compressed the earth into bricks so as to remove them
<v Speaker 1>without revealing what they are. But that is a mere detail.
<v Speaker 1>I have taken you fully into my confidence now, mister Hatherley,
<v Speaker 1>and I have shown you how I trust you. He
<v Speaker 1>rose as he spoke. I shall expect you then at
<v Speaker 1>aefort at eleven fifteen. I shall certainly be there, and
<v Speaker 1>not a word to a soul. He looked at me
<v Speaker 1>with the last long, questioning gaze, and then pressing my
<v Speaker 1>hand in a cold, dank grasp, he hurried from the room. Well,
<v Speaker 1>when I came to think it all over, in cool Blood.
<v Speaker 1>I was very much astonished, as you may both think,
<v Speaker 1>at this sudden commission which had been entrusted to me.
<v Speaker 1>On the one hand, of course, I was glad, for
<v Speaker 1>the fee was at least tenfold what I should have
<v Speaker 1>asked had I set a price upon my own services,
<v Speaker 1>and it was possible that this order might lead to
<v Speaker 1>other ones. On the other hand, the face and manner
<v Speaker 1>of my patron had made an unpleasant impression upon me,
<v Speaker 1>and I could not think that his explanation of the
<v Speaker 1>Fuller's earth was sufficient to explain the necessity for my
<v Speaker 1>coming at midnight, and his extreme anxiety lest I should
<v Speaker 1>tell any one of my errand And however, I threw
<v Speaker 1>all fears to the winds ate a hearty supper, drove
<v Speaker 1>to Paddington and started off, Having obeyed to the letter
<v Speaker 1>the injunction as to holding my tongue at reading, I
<v Speaker 1>had to change not only my carriage but my station. However,
<v Speaker 1>I was in time for the last trained ayfort and
<v Speaker 1>I reached the little dim lit station after eleven o'clock.
<v Speaker 1>I was the only passenger who got out there, and
<v Speaker 1>there was no one upon the platform save a single
<v Speaker 1>sleepy porter with a lantern. As I passed out through
<v Speaker 1>the wicket gate, however, I found my acquaintance of the
<v Speaker 1>morning waiting in the shadow upon the other side. Without
<v Speaker 1>a word, he grasped my arm and hurried me into
<v Speaker 1>a carriage, the door of which was standing open. He
<v Speaker 1>drew up the windows on either side, tapped on the woodwork,
<v Speaker 1>and away we went, as fast as the horse could go.
<v Speaker 1>One horse, interjected Holmes, yes, only one. Did you observe
<v Speaker 1>the color? Yes, I saw it by the side lights
<v Speaker 1>when I was stepping into the carriage. It was a chestnut,
<v Speaker 1>tired looking or fresh? Oh, fresh and glow. Thank you.
<v Speaker 1>I'm sorry to have interrupted you. Pray continue your most
<v Speaker 1>interesting statement. Away we went, then, and we drove for
<v Speaker 1>at least an hour. Colonel Lysander Stark had said that
<v Speaker 1>it was only seven miles, but I should think from
<v Speaker 1>the rate that we seemed to go, and from the
<v Speaker 1>time that we took that it must have been nearer twelve.
<v Speaker 1>He sat at my side in silence all the time,
<v Speaker 1>and I was aware more than once when I glanced
<v Speaker 1>at his direction, that he was looking at me with
<v Speaker 1>great intensity. The country road seemed to not be very
<v Speaker 1>good in that part of the world, for we lurched
<v Speaker 1>and jolted terribly. I tried to look out of the
<v Speaker 1>windows to see something of where we were, but they
<v Speaker 1>were made of frosted glass, and I could make out
<v Speaker 1>nothing save the occasional bright blur of a passing light.
<v Speaker 1>Now and then I hazarded some remark to break the
<v Speaker 1>monotony of the journey, but the Colonel answered only in monosyllables,
<v Speaker 1>and the conversation soon flagged. At last, however, the bumping
<v Speaker 1>of the road was exchanged for the crisp smoothness of
<v Speaker 1>a gravel drive, and the carriage came to a stand.
<v Speaker 1>Colonel Lysander Stark sprang out, and as I followed after him,
<v Speaker 1>pulled me swiftly into a porch which gaped in front
<v Speaker 1>of us. We stepped, as it were, right out of
<v Speaker 1>the carriage and into the hall, so that I failed
<v Speaker 1>to catch the most fleeting glance of the front of
<v Speaker 1>the house. The instant that I had crossed the threshold,
<v Speaker 1>the door slammed heavily behind us, and I heard faintly
<v Speaker 1>the rattle of the wheels as the carriage drove away.
<v Speaker 1>It was pitch dark inside the house, and the Colonel
<v Speaker 1>fumbled about looking for matches, and muttering under his breath.
<v Speaker 1>Suddenly a door opened at the other end of the passage,
<v Speaker 1>and a long golden bar of light shot out in
<v Speaker 1>our direction. It grew broader, and a woman appeared with
<v Speaker 1>a lamp in her hand, which she held above her head,
<v Speaker 1>pushing her face forward and peering at us. I could
<v Speaker 1>see that she was pretty, and from the gloss with
<v Speaker 1>which the light shone upon her dark dress, I knew
<v Speaker 1>that it was a rich material. She spoke a few
<v Speaker 1>words in a foreign tongue, in a tone as though
<v Speaker 1>asking a question, and when my companion answered in a
<v Speaker 1>gruff monosyllable, she gave such a start that the lamp
<v Speaker 1>nearly fell from her hand. Colonel Stark went up to her,
<v Speaker 1>whispered something in her ear, and then pushing her back
<v Speaker 1>into the room from whence she had come, he walked
<v Speaker 1>towards me again, with the lamp in his hand. Perhaps
<v Speaker 1>you will have the kindness to wait in this room
<v Speaker 1>for a few minutes, said he, throwing open another door.
<v Speaker 1>It was a quiet, little, plainly furnished room, with a
<v Speaker 1>round table in the center, on which several German books
<v Speaker 1>were scattered. Colonel Stark laid down the lamp on the
<v Speaker 1>top of a harmonium beside the door. I shall not
<v Speaker 1>keep you waiting an instant, said he, and vanished into
<v Speaker 1>the darkness. I glanced at the books upon the table,
<v Speaker 1>and in spite of my ignorance of German, I could
<v Speaker 1>see that the two of them were treatises on science,
<v Speaker 1>the others being volumes of poetry. Then I walked across
<v Speaker 1>to the window, hoping that I might catch some glimpse
<v Speaker 1>of the countryside. But an oak shutter, heavily barred, was
<v Speaker 1>folded across it. It was a wonderfully silent house. There
<v Speaker 1>was an old clock ticking loudly somewhere in the passage,
<v Speaker 1>but otherwise ever was deadly still. A vague feeling of
<v Speaker 1>uneasiness began to steal over me. Who were these German people?
<v Speaker 1>And what were they doing living in this strange out
<v Speaker 1>of the way place? And where was this place? I
<v Speaker 1>was ten miles or so from Eyford, that was all
<v Speaker 1>I knew, but whether north, southeast or west, I had
<v Speaker 1>no idea for that matter. Reading and possibly other large
<v Speaker 1>towns were within that radius, so the place might not
<v Speaker 1>be so secluded after all. Yet it was quite certain
<v Speaker 1>from the absolute stillness that we were in the country.
<v Speaker 1>I paced up and down the room, humming a tune
<v Speaker 1>under my breath to keep up my spirits, and feeling
<v Speaker 1>that I was thoroughly earning my fifty guinea fee. Suddenly,
<v Speaker 1>without any preliminary sound, in the midst of the utter stillness,
<v Speaker 1>the door of my room swung slowly open. The woman
<v Speaker 1>was standing in the aperture, the darkness of the hall
<v Speaker 1>behind her, the yellow light for my lamp beating upon
<v Speaker 1>her eager and beautiful face. I could see at a
<v Speaker 1>glance that she was sick with fear, and the sight
<v Speaker 1>sent a chill to my own heart. She held up
<v Speaker 1>one shaking finger to warn me to be silent, and
<v Speaker 1>she shot a few whispered words of broken English at me,
<v Speaker 1>her eyes glancing back like those of a frightened horse,
<v Speaker 1>into the gloom behind her. I would go, said she,
<v Speaker 1>trying hard as it seemed to me to speak calmly.
<v Speaker 1>I would go. I should not stay here. There is
<v Speaker 1>no good for you to do. But madam, I said,
<v Speaker 1>I have not yet done what I came for. I
<v Speaker 1>cannot possibly leave until I have seen the machine. It
<v Speaker 1>is not worth your while to wait, She went on,
<v Speaker 1>You can pass through the door, no one hinders. And then,
<v Speaker 1>seeing that I smiled and shook my head, she suddenly
<v Speaker 1>threw aside her constraint and made a step forward with
<v Speaker 1>her hands rung together. For the love of Heaven, she whispered,
<v Speaker 1>get away from here before it is too late. But
<v Speaker 1>I am somewhat headstrong by nature, and the more ready
<v Speaker 1>to engage in an affair when there is some obstacle
<v Speaker 1>in the way. I thought of my fifty guinea fee,
<v Speaker 1>of my wearisome jeary ernie, and of the unpleasant night
<v Speaker 1>which seemed to be before me. Was it all to
<v Speaker 1>go for nothing? Why should I slink away without having
<v Speaker 1>carried out my commission and without the payment which was
<v Speaker 1>my due. This woman might, for all I knew, be
<v Speaker 1>a monomaniac with a stout bearing. Therefore, though her manner
<v Speaker 1>had shaken me more than I cared to confess, I
<v Speaker 1>still shook my head and declared my intention of remaining
<v Speaker 1>where I was. She was about to renew her entreaties
<v Speaker 1>when a door slammed overhead, and the sound of several
<v Speaker 1>footsteps was heard upon the stairs. She listened for an
<v Speaker 1>instant threw up her hands with a despairing gesture, and
<v Speaker 1>vanished as suddenly and as noiselessly as she had come.
<v Speaker 1>The newcomers were Colonel Lysander Stark and a short, thick
<v Speaker 1>man with a chinchilla beard growing out of the creases
<v Speaker 1>of his double chin, who was introduced to me as
<v Speaker 1>mister Ferguson. This is my secretary and manager, said the Colonel.
<v Speaker 1>By the way, I was under the impression that I
<v Speaker 1>left this door shut just now. I feared that you
<v Speaker 1>have felt the draft. On the contrary, said I. I
<v Speaker 1>opened the door myself because I felt the room to
<v Speaker 1>be a little close. He shot one of his suspicious
<v Speaker 1>looks at me. Perhaps we had better proceed to business, then,
<v Speaker 1>said he, mister Ferguson, and I will take you up
<v Speaker 1>to see the machine. I had better put my hat on,
<v Speaker 1>I suppose. Oh, no, it is in the house what
<v Speaker 1>you dig Fuller's earth in the house. No, no, this
<v Speaker 1>is only where we can press it. But never mind that.
<v Speaker 1>All we wish you to do is to examine the
<v Speaker 1>machine and to let us know what is wrong with it.
<v Speaker 1>We went upstairs together, the Colonel first with the lamp,
<v Speaker 1>the fat manager and I behind him. It was a
<v Speaker 1>labyrinth of an old house with corridors, passages, narrow winding staircases,
<v Speaker 1>and little low doors, the thresholds of which were hollowed
<v Speaker 1>out by the generations who had crossed them. There were
<v Speaker 1>no carpets and no sign of any furniture above the
<v Speaker 1>ground floor. While the plaster was peeling off the walls
<v Speaker 1>and the damp was breaking through in green, unhealthy blotches.
<v Speaker 1>I tried to put on as an unconcerned air as possible,
<v Speaker 1>But I had not forgotten the warnings of the lake,
<v Speaker 1>even though I disregarded them, and I kept a keen
<v Speaker 1>eye upon my two companions. Ferguson appeared to be a
<v Speaker 1>morose and silent man, but I could see from the
<v Speaker 1>little that he had said that he was at least
<v Speaker 1>a fellow countryman. Colonel Lysander Stark stopped at last before
<v Speaker 1>a low door, which he unlocked. Within was a small
<v Speaker 1>square room in which the three of us could hardly
<v Speaker 1>get at one time. Ferguson remained outside, and the Colonel
<v Speaker 1>ushered me in. We are now said he actually within
<v Speaker 1>the hydraulic press, and it would be a particularly unpleasant
<v Speaker 1>thing for us if any one were to turn it
<v Speaker 1>on the ceiling of this small chamber is really the
<v Speaker 1>end of the descending piston, and it comes down with
<v Speaker 1>the force of many tons upon this metal floor. There
<v Speaker 1>are small lateral columns of water outside which received the force,
<v Speaker 1>and which transmit and multiply it in the manner which
<v Speaker 1>is familiar to you. The machine goes readily enough, but
<v Speaker 1>there is some stiffness in the working of it, and
<v Speaker 1>it has lost a little of its force. Perhaps you
<v Speaker 1>will have the goodness to look it over and to
<v Speaker 1>show us how we can set it right. I took
<v Speaker 1>the lamp from him, and I examined the machine very thoroughly.
<v Speaker 1>It was indeed a gigantic one, and capable of exercising
<v Speaker 1>enormous pressure. When I passed outside, however, and pressed down
<v Speaker 1>the levers which controlled it, I knew at once by
<v Speaker 1>the wishing sound that there was a slight leakage which
<v Speaker 1>allowed a regurgitation of water through one of the side cylinders.
<v Speaker 1>An examination showed that one of the indie rubber bands,
<v Speaker 1>which was round the head of a driving rod, had
<v Speaker 1>shrunk so as not quite to fill the socket along
<v Speaker 1>which it worked. This was clearly the cause of the
<v Speaker 1>loss of power, and I pointed it out to my companions,
<v Speaker 1>who followed my remarks very carefully and asked several practical
<v Speaker 1>questions as to how they should proceed to set it right.
<v Speaker 1>When I had made it clear to them, I returned
<v Speaker 1>to the main chamber of the machine and took a
<v Speaker 1>good look at it to satisfy my own curiosity. It
<v Speaker 1>was obvious at a glance that the story of the
<v Speaker 1>Fuller's Earth was the merest fabrication, for it would be
<v Speaker 1>absurd to suppose that so powerful an engine could be
<v Speaker 1>designed for so inadequate a purpose. The walls were of wood,
<v Speaker 1>but the floor consisted of a large iron trough, and
<v Speaker 1>when I came to examine it, I could see a
<v Speaker 1>crust of metallic deposit all over it. I had stooped
<v Speaker 1>and was scraping at this to see exactly what it was,
<v Speaker 1>when I heard a muttered exclamation in German and saw
<v Speaker 1>the cadaverous face of the Colonel looking down at me.
<v Speaker 1>What are you doing there, he asked. I felt angry
<v Speaker 1>at having been tricked by so elaborate a story as
<v Speaker 1>that which he had told me. I was admiring your
<v Speaker 1>Fuller's Earth, said I. I think that I should be
<v Speaker 1>better able to advise you as to your machine, if
<v Speaker 1>I knew what the exact purpose was for which it
<v Speaker 1>was used. The instant that I uttered the words, I
<v Speaker 1>regretted the rashness of my speech. His face sat hard,
<v Speaker 1>and a baleful light sprang up in his gray eyes.
<v Speaker 1>Very well, said he, you shall know all about the machine.
<v Speaker 1>He took a step backward, slammed the little door, and
<v Speaker 1>turned the key in the lock. I rushed towards it
<v Speaker 1>and pulled at the handle, but it was quite secure
<v Speaker 1>and did not given the least to my kicks and shoves. Hullo,
<v Speaker 1>I held, Hullo. Colonel let me out. And then suddenly,
<v Speaker 1>in the silence, I heard a sound which sent my
<v Speaker 1>heart into my mouth. It was the clank of the
<v Speaker 1>levers and the swish of the leaking cylinder. He had
<v Speaker 1>set the engine at work. The lamp still stood upon
<v Speaker 1>the floor where I had placed it. When examining the
<v Speaker 1>trough by its light, I saw that the black ceiling
<v Speaker 1>was coming down upon me, slowly, jerkily. But as none
<v Speaker 1>knew better than myself, with a force which must within
<v Speaker 1>a minute grind me to a shapeless pulp, I threw
<v Speaker 1>myself screaming against the door, and dragged with my nails
<v Speaker 1>at the lock. I implored the colonel to let me out,
<v Speaker 1>but the remorseless clanking of the levers drowned my cries.
<v Speaker 1>The ceiling was only foot or two above my head,
<v Speaker 1>and with my hand upraised, I could feel its hard,
<v Speaker 1>rough surface. Then it flashed through my mind that the
<v Speaker 1>pain of my death would depend very much upon the
<v Speaker 1>position in which I met it. If I lay on
<v Speaker 1>my face, the weight would come upon my spine, and
<v Speaker 1>I shuddered to think of that dreadful snap. Easier the
<v Speaker 1>other way, perhaps, And yet had I the nerve to
<v Speaker 1>lie and look up at that deadly black shadow wavering
<v Speaker 1>down upon me, already I was unable to stand erect
<v Speaker 1>when my eye caught something which brought a gush of
<v Speaker 1>hope back to my heart. I have said that though
<v Speaker 1>the floor and ceiling were of iron, the walls were
<v Speaker 1>of wood. As I gave a last hurried glance around,
<v Speaker 1>I saw a thin line of yellow light between two
<v Speaker 1>of the boards, which broadened and broadened as a small
<v Speaker 1>panel was pushed backward. For an instant I could hardly
<v Speaker 1>believe that here was indeed a door which led away
<v Speaker 1>from death. The next instant, I threw myself through and
<v Speaker 1>lay half fainting upon the other side. The panel had
<v Speaker 1>closed again behind me, but the crash of the lamp,
<v Speaker 1>and a few moments afterwards the clang of the two
<v Speaker 1>slabs of metal told me how narrow had been my escape.
<v Speaker 1>I was recalled to myself by frantic plucking at my wrist,
<v Speaker 1>and I found myself lying upon the stone floor of
<v Speaker 1>a narrow corridor, while a woman bent over me and
<v Speaker 1>tugged at me with her left hand, while she held
<v Speaker 1>a candle in her right. It was the same good
<v Speaker 1>friend whose warning I had so foolishly rejected. Come, come,
<v Speaker 1>she cried breathlessly. They will be here in a moment.
<v Speaker 1>They will see that you are not there. Oh, do
<v Speaker 1>not waste the so precious time, But come this time.
<v Speaker 1>At least I did not scorn her advice. I staggered
<v Speaker 1>to my feet and ran with her along the corridor
<v Speaker 1>and down a winding stair. The latter led to another
<v Speaker 1>broad passage, and just as we reached it, we heard
<v Speaker 1>the sound of running feet and the shouting of two voices,
<v Speaker 1>one answering the other from the floor in which we were,
<v Speaker 1>and from the one beneath my guide stopped and looked
<v Speaker 1>about her like one who was at her WIT's end.
<v Speaker 1>Then she threw open a door which led into a bedroom,
<v Speaker 1>through the window of which the moon was shining brightly.
<v Speaker 1>It is your only chance, said she. It is high,
<v Speaker 1>but it may be that you can jump it. As
<v Speaker 1>she spoke, a light sprang into view at the further
<v Speaker 1>end of the passage, and I saw the lean figure
<v Speaker 1>of Colonel Lysander Stark, rushing forward, with the lantern in
<v Speaker 1>one hand and a weapon like a butcher's cleaver in
<v Speaker 1>the other. I rushed across the bedroom, flung open the window,
<v Speaker 1>and looked out how quiet and sweet and wholesome the
<v Speaker 1>garden looked in the moonlight, and it could not be
<v Speaker 1>more than thirty feet down. I clambered out upon the sill,
<v Speaker 1>but I hesitated to jump until I should have heard
<v Speaker 1>what passed between my savior and the ruffian who pursued me.
<v Speaker 1>If she were ill used, then at any risks, I
<v Speaker 1>was determined to go back to her assistance. The thought
<v Speaker 1>had hardly flashed through my mind before he was at
<v Speaker 1>the door, pushing his way past her, But she threw
<v Speaker 1>her arms round him and tried to hold him back Fritz, Fritz,
<v Speaker 1>she cried in English. Remember your promise, after the last
<v Speaker 1>time you said it should not be again. He will
<v Speaker 1>be silent. Oh, he'll be silent. You are mad, Alise,
<v Speaker 1>he shouted, struggling to break away from her. You will
<v Speaker 1>be the ruin of us. He has seen too much.
<v Speaker 1>Let me pass, I say. He dashed her to one side, and,
<v Speaker 1>rushing to the window, cut at me with his heavy weapon.
<v Speaker 1>I had let myself go and was hanging by the
<v Speaker 1>hands to the sill when his blow fell. I was
<v Speaker 1>conscious of a dull pain. My grip loosened, and I
<v Speaker 1>fell into the garden below. I was shaken, but not
<v Speaker 1>hurt by the fall, so I picked myself up and
<v Speaker 1>rushed off among the bushes as hard as I could run,
<v Speaker 1>for I understood that I was far from being out
<v Speaker 1>of danger. Yet suddenly, however, as I ran, a deadly
<v Speaker 1>dizziness and sickness came over me. I glanced down at
<v Speaker 1>my hand, which was throbbing painfully, and then for the
<v Speaker 1>first time saw that my thumb had been cut off,
<v Speaker 1>and that the blood was pouring from my wound. I
<v Speaker 1>endeavored to tie my handkerchief round it, but there came
<v Speaker 1>a sudden buzzing in my ears, and next moment I
<v Speaker 1>fell into a dead faint among the rose bushes. How
<v Speaker 1>long I remained unconscious I cannot tell. It must have
<v Speaker 1>been a very long time, for the moon had sunk
<v Speaker 1>and a bright morning was breaking. When I came to myself,
<v Speaker 1>my clothes were all sodden with dew, and my coat
<v Speaker 1>sleeve was drenched with blood from my wounded thumb. The
<v Speaker 1>smarting of it recalled in an instant all the particulars
<v Speaker 1>of my night's adventure, and I sprang to my feet
<v Speaker 1>with the feeling that I might hardly yet be safe
<v Speaker 1>from my pursuers. But to my astonishment, when I came
<v Speaker 1>to look round me, neither house nor garden were to
<v Speaker 1>be seen. I had been lying in an angle of
<v Speaker 1>the hedge, close by the high road, and just a
<v Speaker 1>little lower down was a long building, which proved, upon
<v Speaker 1>my approaching it, to be the very station at which
<v Speaker 1>I had arrived upon the previous night. Were it not
<v Speaker 1>for the ugly wound upon my hand, all that had
<v Speaker 1>passed during those dreadful hours might have been an evil dream.
<v Speaker 1>Half dazed, I went into the station and asked about
<v Speaker 1>the morning train. There'd be one to reading in less
<v Speaker 1>than an hour. The same porter was on duty. I
<v Speaker 1>found as had been there when I arrived. I inquired
<v Speaker 1>of him whether he had ever heard of Colonel Lysander's Stark.
<v Speaker 1>The name was strange to him. Had he observed a
<v Speaker 1>carriage the night before waiting for me? No? He had not.
<v Speaker 1>Was there a police station anywhere near? There was one
<v Speaker 1>about three miles off. It was too far for me
<v Speaker 1>to go. Weak and ill as I was, I determined
<v Speaker 1>to wait until I got back to town before telling
<v Speaker 1>my storyry to the police. It was a little past
<v Speaker 1>six when I arrived, so I went first to have
<v Speaker 1>my wound a dressed, and then the doctor was kind
<v Speaker 1>enough to bring me along here. I put the case
<v Speaker 1>into your hands, and shall do exactly what you advise.
<v Speaker 1>We both sat in silence for some little time after
<v Speaker 1>listening to this extraordinary narrative. Then Sherlock Holmes pulled down
<v Speaker 1>from the shelf one of the ponderous commonplace books in
<v Speaker 1>which he placed his cuttings. Here is an advertisement which
<v Speaker 1>will interest you, said he. It appeared in all the
<v Speaker 1>papers about a year ago. Listen to this lost on
<v Speaker 1>the ninth mister Jeremiah Hayling, aged twenty six, a hydraulic engineer,
<v Speaker 1>left his lodgings at ten o'clock at night and has
<v Speaker 1>not been heard of since. Was dressed in et cetera,
<v Speaker 1>et cetera. Ha, that represents the last time that the
<v Speaker 1>colonel needed to have his machine overhauled. I fancy good, heavens,
<v Speaker 1>cried my patient. Then that explains what the girl said.
<v Speaker 1>Undoubtedly it is quite clear that the colonel was a
<v Speaker 1>cool and desperate man who has absolutely determined that nothing
<v Speaker 1>should stand in the way of his little game, like
<v Speaker 1>those out and out pirates who will leave no survivor
<v Speaker 1>from a captured ship. Well, every moment now is precious,
<v Speaker 1>so if you feel equal to it, we shall go
<v Speaker 1>down to Scotland Yard at once as a preliminary to
<v Speaker 1>starting for Ayford. Some three hours or so afterwards, we
<v Speaker 1>were all in the train together, bound from Reading to
<v Speaker 1>the little Berkshire village. There were Sherlock Holmes, the hydraulic engineer,
<v Speaker 1>Inspector Brad Street of Scotland Yard, a plain's clothesman, and myself.
<v Speaker 1>Brad Street had spread an ordnance map of the county
<v Speaker 1>out upon the seat and was busy with this compass
<v Speaker 1>drawing a circle with Ayford for its center. There you are,
<v Speaker 1>said he. That circle is drawn at a radius of
<v Speaker 1>ten miles from the village. The place we want must
<v Speaker 1>be somewhere near that line. You said, ten miles. I think, sir,
<v Speaker 1>it was an hour's good drive. And you think that
<v Speaker 1>they brought you back all that way when you were unconscious.
<v Speaker 1>They must have done so. I have a confused memory too,
<v Speaker 1>of having been lifted and conveyed somewhere. What I cannot understand,
<v Speaker 1>said I, is why they should have spared you when
<v Speaker 1>they found you lying fainting in the garden. Perhaps the
<v Speaker 1>villain was softened by the woman's entreaties. I hardly think
<v Speaker 1>that likely. I never saw a more inexorable face in
<v Speaker 1>my life. Oh we shall soon clear up all that,
<v Speaker 1>said Bradstreet. Well, I have drawn my circle, and I
<v Speaker 1>only wish I knew at what point upon it the
<v Speaker 1>folk that we are in search of are to be found.
<v Speaker 1>I think I could lay my finger on it, said
<v Speaker 1>Holmes quietly. Really, now, cried the inspector. You've formed your opinion.
<v Speaker 1>Come now we shall see who agrees with you. I
<v Speaker 1>say it is south, for the country is more deserted
<v Speaker 1>there and I say east, said my patient. I am
<v Speaker 1>for west, remarked the plains clothesman. There are several quiet
<v Speaker 1>little villages up there, and I am for north, said I,
<v Speaker 1>because there are no hills there. And our friend says they.
<v Speaker 1>He did not notice the carriage go up any come,
<v Speaker 1>cried the inspector, laughing. It's a very pretty diversity of opinion.
<v Speaker 1>We have boxed the compass among us, who do you
<v Speaker 1>give your casting vote to? You are all wrong, but
<v Speaker 1>we can't all be Oh, yes you can. This is
<v Speaker 1>my He placed his finger in the center of the circle.
<v Speaker 1>This is where we shall find them. But the twelve
<v Speaker 1>mile drive, gasp, Patherley, six out and six back. Nothing simpler.
<v Speaker 1>You say yourself that the horse was fresh and glossy
<v Speaker 1>when you get in. How could it be that if
<v Speaker 1>it had gone twelve miles over heavy roads. Indeed, it
<v Speaker 1>is a likely ruse, enough, observed Bradstreet thoughtfully. Of course,
<v Speaker 1>there can be no doubt as to the nature of
<v Speaker 1>this gang, none at all, said Holmes. They are coiners
<v Speaker 1>on a large scale, and have used the machine to
<v Speaker 1>form the amalgam which has taken the place of silver.
<v Speaker 1>We have known for some time that a clever gang
<v Speaker 1>was at work, said the inspector. They've been turning out
<v Speaker 1>half crowns by the thousand. We even traced them as
<v Speaker 1>far as Redding, but could get no farther, for they'd
<v Speaker 1>covered their traces in a way that showed that they
<v Speaker 1>were very old hands. But now, thanks to this lucky chance,
<v Speaker 1>I think that we have got them right enough. But
<v Speaker 1>the inspector was mistaken, for those criminals were not destined
<v Speaker 1>to fall into the hands of justice. As we rolled
<v Speaker 1>into Ayford's State, we saw a gigantic column of smoke
<v Speaker 1>which streamed up from behind a small clump of trees
<v Speaker 1>in the neighborhood and hung like an immense Ostrich feather
<v Speaker 1>over the landscape. A house on fire, asked brad Street,
<v Speaker 1>as the train steamed off again on its way. Yes, sir,
<v Speaker 1>said the station master. When did it break out? I
<v Speaker 1>hear that it was during the night, sir, but has
<v Speaker 1>got worse, and the whole place is in a blaze.
<v Speaker 1>Whose house is it? Doctor Becker's? Tell me broke in
<v Speaker 1>the engineer? Is doctor Becker? A German, very thin with
<v Speaker 1>a long, sharp nose. The station master laughed heartily, No, sir,
<v Speaker 1>doctor Becker is an Englishman, and there isn't a man
<v Speaker 1>in the parish who has a better lined waistcoat. But
<v Speaker 1>he has a gentleman staying with him, a patient, as
<v Speaker 1>I understand, who is a foreigner. And he looks as
<v Speaker 1>if a little good Berkshire beef would do him no harm.
<v Speaker 1>The station master had not finished his speech before we
<v Speaker 1>were all hastening in the direction of the fire. The
<v Speaker 1>road topped a low hill, and there was a great, widespread,
<v Speaker 1>whitewashed building in front of us, spouting fire at every
<v Speaker 1>chink and window, while in the garden in front three
<v Speaker 1>fire engines were vainly striving to keep the flames under
<v Speaker 1>That's it, cried Hatherley, in intense excitement. There is the
<v Speaker 1>gravel drive, and there are the rose bushes where I lay.
<v Speaker 1>That second window was the one that I jumped from. Well,
<v Speaker 1>at least, said Holmes, you have had your revenge upon them.
<v Speaker 1>There could be no question that it was your oil lamp, which,
<v Speaker 1>when it was crushed in the press, set fire to
<v Speaker 1>the wooden walls, though no doubt they were too excited
<v Speaker 1>in the chase after you to observe it at the time.
<v Speaker 1>Now keep your eyes open in this crowd for your
<v Speaker 1>friends of last night, though I very much fear that
<v Speaker 1>they are a good hundred miles off by now, and
<v Speaker 1>Holmes's fears came to be realized, for from that day
<v Speaker 1>to this no word has ever been heard either of
<v Speaker 1>the beautiful woman, the sinister German, or the morose Englishman.
<v Speaker 1>Early that morning a peasant had met a cart containing
<v Speaker 1>several people and some very bulky boxes, driving rapidly in
<v Speaker 1>the direction of Reading. But there all traces of the
<v Speaker 1>fugitives disappeared, and even Holmes's ingenuity failed ever to discover
<v Speaker 1>the least clue as to their whereabo. The firemen had
<v Speaker 1>been much perturbed at the strange arrangements which they had
<v Speaker 1>found within, and still more so by discovering a newly
<v Speaker 1>severed human thumb upon a window sill of the second floor.
<v Speaker 1>About sunset, however, their efforts were at last successful, and
<v Speaker 1>they subdued the flames, but not before the roof had
<v Speaker 1>fallen in, and the whole place had been reduced to
<v Speaker 1>such an absolute ruin that, save some twisted cylinders and
<v Speaker 1>iron piping, not a trace remained of the machinery which
<v Speaker 1>had cost our unfortunate acquaintance. So dearly, large masses of
<v Speaker 1>nickel out of tin were discovered stored in an outhouse,
<v Speaker 1>but no coins were to be found, which may have
<v Speaker 1>explained the presence of those bulky boxes which have been
<v Speaker 1>already referred to. How our hydraulic engineer had been conveyed
<v Speaker 1>from the garden to the spot where he recovered his
<v Speaker 1>senses might have remained forever a mystery, were it not
<v Speaker 1>for the soft mold, which told us a very plain tale.
<v Speaker 1>He had evidently been carried down by two persons, one
<v Speaker 1>of whom had remarkably small feet and the other unusually
<v Speaker 1>large ones. On the whole it was most probable that
<v Speaker 1>the silent Englishman, being less bold or less murderous than
<v Speaker 1>his companion, had assisted the woman to bear the unconscious
<v Speaker 1>man out of the way of danger. Well, said our
<v Speaker 1>engineer ruefully, as we took our seats to return once
<v Speaker 1>more to London. It has been a pretty business for me.
<v Speaker 1>I have lost my thumb and I have lost a
<v Speaker 1>fifty guinea fee, and what have I gained? Experience, said Holmes,
<v Speaker 1>laughing indirectly. It may be of value, you know, you
<v Speaker 1>have only to put it into words to gain the
<v Speaker 1>reputation of being excellent company for the remainder of your existence.