                                      1892
                                SHERLOCK HOLMES
                     THE ADVENTURE OF THE ENGINEER'S THUMB
                           by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

  Of all the problems which have been submitted to my friend, Mr.
Sherlock Holmes, for solution during the years of our intimacy,
there were only two which I was the means of introducing to his
notice-that of Mr. Hatherley's thumb, and that of Colonel
Warburton's madness. Of these the latter may have afforded a finer
field for an acute and original observer, but the other was so strange
in its inception and so dramatic in its details that it may be the
more worthy of being placed upon record, even if it gave my friend
fewer openings for those deductive methods of reasoning by which he
achieved such remarkable results. The story has, I believe, been
told more than once in the newspapers, but, like all such
narratives, its effect is much less striking when set forth en bloc in
a single half-column of print than when the facts slowly evolve before
your own eyes, and the mystery clears gradually away as each new
discovery furnishes a step which leads on to the complete truth. At
the time the circumstances made a deep impression upon me, and the
lapse of two years has hardly served to weaken the effect.
  It was in the summer of '89, not long after my marriage, that the
events occurred which I am now about to summarize. I had returned to
civil practice and had finally abandoned Holmes in his Baker Street
rooms, although I continually visited him and occasionally even
persuaded him to forego his Bohemian habits so far as to come and
visit us. My practice had steadily increased, and as I happened to
live at no very great distance from Paddington Station, I got a few
patients from among the officials. One of these, whom I had cured of a
painful and lingering disease, was never weary of advertising my
virtues and of endeavouring to send me on every sufferer over whom
he might have any influence.
  One morning, at a little before seven o'clock, I was awakened by the
maid tapping at the door to announce that two men had come from
Paddington and were waiting in the consulting-room. I dressed
hurriedly, for I knew by experience that railway cases were seldom
trivial, and hastened downstairs. As I descended, my old ally, the
guard, came out of the room and closed the door tightly behind him.
  "I've got him here," he whispered, jerking his thumb over his
shoulder; "he's all right."
  "What is it, then?' I asked, for his manner suggested that it was
some strange creature which he had caged up in my room.
  "It's a new patient," he whispered. "I thought I'd bring him round
myself; then he couldn't slip away. There he is, all safe and sound. I
must go now, Doctor; I have my duties, just the same as you." And
off he went, this trusty tout, without even giving me time to thank
him.
  I entered my consulting-room and found a gentleman seated by the
table. He was quietly dressed in a suit of heather tweed, with a
soft cloth cap which he had laid down upon my books. Round one of
his hands he had a handkerchief wrapped, which was mottled all over
with bloodstains. He was young, not more than five-and-twenty, I
should say, with a strong, masculine face; but be was exceedingly pale
and gave me the impression of a man who was suffering from some strong
agitation, which it took all his strength of mind to control.
  "I am sorry to knock you up so early, Doctor," said he, "but I
have had a very serious accident during the night. I came in by
train this morning, and on inquiring at Paddington as to where I might
find a doctor, a worthy fellow very kindly escorted me here. I gave
the maid a card, but I see that she has left it upon the side-table."
  I took it up and glanced at it. "Mr. Victor Hatherley, hydraulic
engineer, 16A, Victoria Street (3d. floor)." That was the name, style,
and abode of my morning visitor. "I regret that I have kept you
waiting," said I, sitting down in my library chair. "You are fresh
from a night journey, I understand, which is in itself a monotonous
occupation."
  "Oh, my night could not be called monotonous," said he, and laughed.
He laughed very heartily, with a high, ringing note, leaning back in
his chair and shaking his sides. All my medical instincts rose up
against that laugh.
  "Stop it!" I cried; "pull yourself together!" and I poured out
some water from a carafe.
  It was useless, however. He was off in one of those hysterical
outbursts which come upon a strong nature when some great crisis is
over and gone. Presently he came to himself once more, very weary
and pale-looking.
  "I have been making a fool of myself," he gasped.
  "Not at all. Drink this." I dashed some brandy into the water, and
the colour began to come back to his bloodless cheeks.
  "That's better!" said he. "And now, Doctor, perhaps you would kindly
attend to my thumb, or rather to the place where my thumb used to be."
  He unwound the handkerchief and held out his hand. It gave even my
hardened nerves a shudder to look at it. There were four protruding
fingers and a horrid red, spongy surface where the thumb should have
been. It had been hacked or torn right out from the roots.
  "Good heavens!" I cried, "this is a terrible injury. It must have
bled considerably."
  "Yes, it did. I fainted when it was done, and I think that I must
have been senseless for a long time. Then I came to I found that it
was still bleeding, so I tied one end of my handkerchief very
tightly round the wrist and braced it up with a twig."
  "Excellent! You should have been a surgeon."
  "It is a question of hydraulics, you see, and came within my own
province."
  "This has been done," said I, examining the wound, "by a very
heavy and sharp instrument."
  "A thing like a cleaver," said he.
  "An accident, I presume?"
  "By no means."
  "What! a murderous attack?"
  "Very murderous indeed."
  "You horrify me.'
  I sponged the wound, cleaned it, dressed it, and finally covered
it over with cotton wadding and carbolized bandages. He lay back
without wincing, though he bit his lip from time to time.
  "How is that?" I asked when I had finished.
  "Capital! Between your brandy and your bandage, I feel a new man.
I was very weak, but I have had a good deal to go through."
  "Perhaps you had better not speak of the matter. It is evidently
trying to your nerves."
  "Oh, no, not now. I shall have to tell my tale to the police; but,
between ourselves, if it were not for the convincing evidence of
this wound of mine, I should be surprised if they believed my
statement; for it is a very extraordinary one, and I have not much
in the way of proof with which to back it up; and, even if they,
believe me, the clues which I can give them are so vague that it is
a question whether justice will be done."
  "Ha!" cried I, "if it is anything in the nature of a problem which
you desire to see solved, I should strongly recommend you to come to
my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, before you go to the official police."
  "Oh, I have heard of that fellow," answered my visitor, "and I
should be very glad if he would take the matter up, though of course I
must use the official police as well. Would you give me an
introduction to him?"
  "I'll do better. I'll take you round to him myself."
  "I should be immensely obliged to you."
  "Well call a cab and go together. We shall just be in time to have a
little breakfast with him. Do you feel equal to it?"
  "Yes; I shall not feel easy until I have told my story."
  "Then my servant will call a cab, and I shall be with you in an
instant." I rushed upstairs, explained the matter shortly to my
wife, and in five minutes was inside a hansom, driving with my new
acquaintance to Baker Street.
  Sherlock Holmes was, as I expected, lounging about his
sitting-room in his dressing-gown, reading the agony column of The
Times and smoking his before-breakfast pipe, which was composed of all
the plugs and dottles left from his smokes of the day before, all
carefully dried and collected on the corner of the mantelpiece. He
received us in his quietly genial fashion, ordered fresh rashers and
eggs, and joined us in a hearty meal. When it was concluded he settled
our new acquaintance upon the sofa, placed a pillow beneath his
head, and laid a glass of brandy and water within his reach.
  "It is easy to see that your experience has been no common one,
Mr. Hatherley," said he. "Pray, lie down there and make yourself
absolutely at home. Tell us what you can, but stop when you are
tired and keep up your strength with a little stimulant."
  "Thank you," said my patient, "but I have felt another man since the
doctor bandaged me, and I think that your breakfast has completed
the cure. I shall take up as little of your valuable time as possible,
so I shall start at once upon my peculiar experiences."
  Holmes sat in his big armchair with the weary, heavy-lidded
expression which veiled his keen and eager nature, while I sat
opposite to him, and we listened in silence to the strange story which
our visitor detailed to us.
  "You must know," said he, "that I am an orphan and a bachelor,
residing alone in lodgings in London. By profession I am a hydraulic
engineer, and I have had considerable experience of my work during the
seven years that I was apprenticed to Venner & Matheson, the
well-known firm, of Greenwich. Two years ago, having served my time,
and having also come into a fair sum of money through my poor father's
death, I determined to start in business for myself and took
professional chambers in Victoria Street.
  "I suppose that everyone finds his first independent start in
business a dreary experience. To me it has been exceptionally so.
During two years I have had three consultations and one small job, and
that is absolutely all that my profession has brought me. My gross
takings amount to L27 10s. Every day, from nine in the morning until
four in the afternoon, I waited in my little den, until at last: my
heart began to sink, and I came to believe that I should never have
any practice at all.
  "Yesterday, however, just as I was thinking of leaving the office,
my clerk entered to say there was a gentleman waiting who wished to
see me upon business. He brought up a card, too, with the name of
'Colonel Lysander Stark' engraved upon it. Close at his heels came the
colonel himself, a man rather over the middle size, but of an
exceeding thinness. I do not think that I have ever seen so thin a
man. His whole face sharpened away into nose and chin, and the skin of
his cheeks was drawn quite tense over his outstanding bones. Yet
this emaciation seemed to be his natural habit, and due to no disease,
for his eye was bright his step brisk, and his bearing assured. He was
plainly but neatly dressed, and his age, I should judge, would be
nearer forty than thirty.
  "'Mr. Hatherley?' said he, with something of a German accent. 'You
have been recommended to me, Mr. Hatherley, as being a man who is
not only proficient in his profession but is also discreet and capable
of preserving a secret.'
  "I bowed, feeling as flattered as any young man would at such an
address. 'May I ask who it was who gave me so good a character?'
  "'Well, perhaps it is better that I should not tell you that just at
this moment. I have it from the same source that you are both an
orphan and a bachelor and are residing alone in London.'
  "'That is quite correct,' I answered; 'but you will excuse me if I
say that I cannot see how all this bears upon my professional
qualifications. I understand that it was on a professional matter that
you wished to speak to me?'
  "'Undoubtedly so. But you will find that all I say is really to
the point. I have a professional commission for you, but absolute
secrecy is quite essential-absolute secrecy, you understand, and of
course we may expect that more from a man who is alone than from one
who lives in the bosom of his family.'
  "'If I promise to keep a secret,' said I, 'you may absolutely depend
upon my doing so.'
  "He looked very hard at me as I spoke, and it seemed to me that I
had never seen so suspicious and questioning an eye.
  "'Do you promise, then?' said he at last.
  "'Yes, I promise.'
  "'Absolute and complete silence before, during, and after? No
reference to the matter at all, either in word or writing?'
  "'I have already given you my word.'
  "'Very good.' He suddenly sprang up, and darting like lightning
across the room he flung open the door. The passage outside was empty.
  "'That's all right,' said he, coming back. 'I know the clerks are
sometimes curious as to their master's affairs. Now we can talk in
safety.' He drew up his chair very close to mine and began to stare at
me again with the same questioning and thoughtful look.
  "A feeling of repulsion, and of something akin to fear had begun
to rise within me at the strange antics of this fleshless man. Even my
dread of losing a client could not restrain me from showing my
impatience.
  "'I beg that you will state your business, sir,' said I; 'my time is
of value.' Heaven forgive me for that last sentence, but the words
came to my lips.
  "'How would fifty guineas for a night's work suit you?' he asked.
  "'Most admirably.'
  "'I say a night's work, but an hour's would be nearer the mark. I
simply want your opinion about a hydraulic stamping machine which
has got out of gear. If you show us what is wrong we shall soon set it
right ourselves. What do you think of such a commission as that?'
  "'The work appears to be light and the pay munificent.'
  "'Precisely so. We shall want you to come to-night by the last
train.'
  "'Where to?'
  "'To Eyford, in Berkshire. It is a little place near the borders
of Oxfordshire, and within seven miles of Reading. There is a train
from Paddington which would bring you there at about 11:15.'
  "'Very good.'
  "'I shall come down in a carriage to meet you.'
  "'There is a drive, then?'
  "'Yes, our little place is quite out in the country. It is a good
seven miles from Eyford Station.'
  "'Then we can hardly get there before midnight. I suppose there
would be no chance of a train back. I should be compelled to stop
the night.'
  "'Yes, we could easily give you a shake-down.'
  "'That is very awkward. Could I not come at some more convenient
hour?'
  "'We have judged it best that you should come late. It is to
recompense you for any inconvenience that we are paying to you, a
young and unknown man, a fee which would buy an opinion from the
very heads of your profession. Still, of course, if you would like
to draw out of the business, there is plenty of time to do so.'
  "I thought of the fifty guineas, and of how very useful they would
be to me. 'Not at all,' said I, 'I shall be very happy to
accommodate myself to your wishes. I should like, however, to
understand a little more clearly what it is that you wish me to do.'
  "'Quite so. It is very natural that the pledge of secrecy which we
have exacted from you should have aroused your curiosity. I have no
wish to commit you to anything without your having it all laid
before you. I suppose that we are absolutely safe from eavesdroppers?'
  "'Entirely.'
  "'Then the matter stands thus. You are probably aware that
fuller's-earth is a valuable product. and that it is only found in one
or two places in England?'
  "'I have heard so.'
  "'Some little time ago I bought a small place-a very small
place-within ten miles of Reading. I was fortunate enough to
discover that there was a deposit of fuller's-earth in one of my
fields. On examining it, however, I found that this deposit was a
comparatively small one, and that it formed a link between two very
much larger ones upon the right and left-both of them, however, in the
grounds of my neighbours. These good people were absolutely ignorant
that their land contained that which was quite as valuable as a
gold-mine. Naturally, it was to my interest to buy their land before
they discovered its true value, but unfortunately I had no capital
by which I could do this. I took a few of my friends into the
secret, however, and they suggested that we should quietly and
secretly work our own little deposit, and that in this way we should
earn the money which would enable us to buy the neighbouring fields.
This we have now been doing for some time, and in order to help us
in our operations we erected a hydraulic press. This press, as I
have already explained, has got out of order, and we wish your
advice upon the subject. We guard our secret very jealously,
however, and if it once became known that we had hydraulic engineers
coming to our little house, it would soon rouse inquiry, and then,
if the facts came out, it would be good-bye to any chance of getting
these fields and carrying out our plans. That is why I have made you
promise me that you will not tell a human being that you are going
to Eyford to-night. I hope that I make it all plain?'
  "'I quite follow you,' said I. 'The only point which I could not
quite understand was what use you could make of a hydraulic press in
excavating fuller's-earth, which, as I understand, is dug out like
gravel from a pit.'
  "'Ah!' said he carelessly, 'we have our own process. We compress the
earth into bricks, so as to remove them without revealing what they
are. But that is a mere detail. I have taken you fully into my
confidence now, Mr. Hatherley, and I have shown you how I trust
you.' He rose as he spoke. 'I shall expect you, then, at Eyford at
11:15.'
  "'I shall certainly be there.'
  "'And not a word to a soul.' He looked at me with a last, long,
questioning gaze, and then, pressing my band in a cold, dank grasp, he
hurried from the room.
  "Well, when I came to think it all over in cool blood I was very
much astonished, as you may both think, at this sudden commission
which had been intrusted to me. On the one hand, of course, I was
glad, for the fee was at least tenfold what I should have asked had
I set a price upon my own services, and it was possible that this
order might lead to other ones. On the other hand, the face and manner
of my patron had made an unpleasant impression upon me, and I could
not think that his explanation of the fullers-earth was sufficient
to explain the necessity for my coming at midnight, and his extreme
anxiety lest I should tell anyone of my errand. However, I threw all
fears to the winds, ate a hearty supper, drove to Paddington, and
started off, having obeyed to the letter the injunction as to
holding my tongue.
  "At Reading I had to change not only my carriage but my station.
However, I was in time for the last train to Eyford, and I reached the
little dim-lit station after eleven o'clock. I was the only
passenger who got out there, and there was no one upon the platform
save a single sleepy porter with a lanter. As I passed out through the
wicket gate, however, I found my acquaintance of the morning waiting
in the shadow upon the other side. Without a word he grasped my arm
and hurried me into a carriage, the door of which was standing open.
He drew up the windows on either side, tapped on the wood-work, and
away we went as fast as the horse could go."
  "One horse?" interjected Holmes.
  "Yes, only one."
  "Did you observe the colour?"
  "Yes, I saw it by the side-lights when I was stepping into the
carriage. It was a chestnut."
  "Tired-looking or fresh?"
  "Oh, fresh and glossy."
  "Thank you. I am sorry to have interrupted you. Pray continue your
most interesting statement."
  "Away we went then, and we drove for at least an hour. Colonel
Lysander Stark had said that it was only seven miles, but I should
think, from the rate that we seemed to go, and from the time that we
took, that it must have been nearer twelve. He sat at my side in
silence all the time, and I was aware, more than once when I glanced
in his direction, that he was looking at me with great intensity.
The country roads seem to be not very good in that part of the
world, for we lurched and jolted terribly. I tried to look out of
the windows to see something of where we were, but they were made of
frosted glass, and I could make out nothing save the occasional bright
blur of a passing light. Now and then I hazarded some remark to
break the monotony of the journey, but the colonel answered only in
monosyllables, and the conversation soon flagged. At last, however,
the bumping of the road was exchanged for the crisp smoothness of a
gravel-drive, and the carriage came to a stand. Colonel Lysander Stark
sprang out, and, as I followed after him, pushed me swiftly into a
porch which gaped in front of us. We stepped, as it were, right out of
the carriage and into the hall, so that I failed to catch the most
fleeting glance of the front of the house. The instant that I had
crossed the threshold the door slammed heavily behind us, and I
heard faintly the rattle of the wheels as the carriage drove away.
  "It was pitch dark inside the house, and the colonel fumbled about
looking for matches and muttering under his breath. Suddenly a door
opened at the other end of the passage, and a long, golden bar of
light shot out in our direction. It grew broader, and a woman appeared
with a lamp in her hand, which she held above her head, pushing her
face forward and peering at us. I could see that she was pretty, and
from the gloss with which the light shone upon her dark dress I knew
that it was a rich material. She spoke a few words in a foreign tongue
in a tone as though asking a question, and when my companion
answered in a gruff monosyllable she gave such a start that the lamp
nearly fell from her hand. Colonel Stark went up to her, whispered
something in her ear, and then, pushing her back into the room from
whence she had come, he walked towards me again with the lamp in his
hand.
  "'Perhaps you will have the kindness to wait in this room for a
few minutes,' said he, throwing open another door. It was a quiet,
little, plainly furnished room, with a round table in the centre, on
which several German books were scattered. Colonel Stark laid down the
lamp on the top of a harmonium beside the door. 'I shall not keep
you waiting an instant,' said he, and vanished into the darkness.
  "I glanced at the books upon the table, and in spite of my ignorance
of German I could see that two of them were treatises on science,
the others being volumes of poetry. Then I walked across to the
window, hoping that I might catch some glimpse of the country-side,
but an oak shutter, heavily barred, was folded across it. It was a
wonderfully silent house. There was an old clock ticking loudly
somewhere in the passage, but otherwise everything was deadly still. A
vague feeling of uneasiness began to steal over me. Who were these
German people, and what were they doing living in this strange,
out-of-the-way place? And where was the place? I was ten miles or so
from Eyford, that was all I knew, but whether north, south, east, or
west I had no idea. For that matter, Reading, and possibly other large
towns, were within that radius, so the place might not be so secluded,
after all. Yet it was quite certain, from the absolute stillness, that
we were in the country. I paced up and down the room, humming a tune
under my breath to keep up my spirits and feeling that I was
thoroughly earning my fifty-guinea fee.
  "Suddenly, without any preliminary sound in the midst of the utter
stillness, the door of my room swung slowly open. The woman was
standing in the aperture, the darkness of the hall behind her, the
yellow light from my lamp beating upon her eager and beautiful face. I
could see at a glance that she was sick with fear, and the sight
sent a chill to my own heart. She held up one shaking finger to warn
me to be silent, and she shot a few whispered words of broken
English at me, her eyes glancing back, like those of a frightened
horse, into the gloom behind her.
  "'I would go,' said she, trying hard, as it seemed to me, to speak
calmly, 'I would go. I should not stay here. There is no good for
you to do.'
  "'But, madam,' said I, 'I have not yet done what I came for. I
cannot possibly leave until I have seen the machine.'
  "'It is not worth your while to wait,' she went on. 'You can pass
through the door; no one hinders.' And then, seeing that I smiled
and shook my head, she suddenly threw aside her constraint and made
a step forward, with her hands wrang together. 'For the love of
Heaven!' she whispered, 'get away from here before it is too late!'
  "But I am somewhat headstrong by nature, and the more ready to
engage in an affair when there is some obstacle in the way. I
thought of my fifty-guinea fee, of my wearisome journey, and of the
unpleasant night which seemed to be before me. Was it all to go for
nothing? Why should I slink away without having carried out my
commission, and without the payment which was my due? This woman
might, for all I knew, be a monomaniac. With a stout bearing,
therefore, though her manner had shaken me more than I cared to
confess, I still shook my head and declared my intention of
remaining where I was. She was about to renew her entreaties when a
door slammed overhead, and the sound of several footsteps was heard
upon the stairs. She listened for an instant, threw up her hands
with a despairing gesture, and vanished as suddenly and as noiselessly
as she had come.
  "The newcomers were Colonel Lysander Stark and a short thick man
with a chinchilla beard growing out of the creases of his double chin,
who was introduced to me as Mr. Ferguson.
  "'This is my secretary and manager,' said the colonel. 'By the
way, I was under the impression that I left this door shut just now. I
fear that you have felt the draught.'
  "'On the contrary,' said I, 'I opened the door myself because I felt
the room to be a little close.'
  "He shot one of his suspicious looks at me. 'Perhaps we had better
proceed to business, then,' said he. 'Mr. Ferguson and I will take you
up to see the machine.'
  "'I had better put my hat on, I suppose.'
  "'Oh, no, it is in the house.'
  "'What, you dig fuller's-earth in the house?'
  "'No, no. This is only where we compress it. But never mind that.
All we wish you to do is to examine the machine and to let us know
what is wrong with it.'
  "We went upstairs together, the colonel first with the lamp, the fat
manager and I behind him. It was a labyrinth of an old house, with
corridors, passages, narrow winding staircases, and little low
doors, the thresholds of which were hollowed out by the generations
who had crossed them. There were no carpets and no signs of any
furniture above the ground floor, while the plaster was peeling off
the walls, and the damp was breaking through in green, unhealthy
blotches. I tried to put on as unconcerned an air as possible, but I
had not forgotten the warnings of the lady, even though I
disregarded them, and I kept a keen eye upon my two companions.
Ferguson appeared to be a morose and silent man, but I could see
from the little that he said that he was at least a fellow-countryman.
  "Colonel Lysander Stark stopped at last before a low door, which
he unlocked. Within was a small, square room, in which the three of us
could hardly get at one time. Ferguson remained outside, and the
colonel ushered me in.
  "'We are now,' said he, 'actually within the hydraulic press, and it
would be a particularly unpleasant thing for us if anyone were to turn
it on. The ceiling of this small chamber is really the end of the
descending piston, and it comes down with the force of many tons
upon this metal floor. There are small lateral columns of water
outside which receive the force, and which transmit and multiply it in
the manner which is familiar to you. The machine goes readily
enough, but there is some stiffness in the working of it, and it has
lost a little of its force. Perhaps you will have the goodness to look
it over and to show us how we can set it right.'
  "I took the lamp from him, and I examined the machine very
thoroughly. It was indeed a gigantic one, and capable of exercising
enormous pressure. When I passed outside, however, and pressed down
the levers which controlled it, I knew at once by the whishing sound
that there was a slight leakage, which allowed a regurgitation of
water through one of the side cylinders. An examination showed that
one of the india-rubber bands which was round the head of a
driving-rod had shrunk so as not quite to fill the socket along
which it worked. This was clearly the cause of the loss of power,
and I pointed it out to my companions, who followed my remarks very
carefully and asked several practical questions as to how they
should proceed to set it right. When I had made it clear to them, I
returned to the main chamber of the machine and took a good look at it
to satisfy my own curiosity. It was obvious at a glance that the story
of the fuller's-earth was the merest fabrication, for it would be
absurd to suppose that so powerful an engine could be designed for
so inadequate a purpose. The walls were of wood, but the floor
consisted of a large iron trough, and when I came to examine it I
could see a crust of metallic deposit all over it. I had stooped and
was scraping at this to see exactly what it was when I heard a
muttered exclamation in German and saw the cadaverous face of the
colonel looking down at me.
  "'What are you doing there?' he asked.
  "I felt angry at having been tricked by so elaborate a story as that
which he had told me. 'I was admiring your fuller's-earth,' said I; 'I
think that I should be better able to advise you as to your machine if
I knew what the exact purpose was for which it was used.'
  "The instant that I uttered the words I regretted the rashness of my
speech. His face set hard, and a baleful light sprang up in his gray
eyes.
  "'Very well,' said he, 'you shall know all about the machine.' He
took a step backward, slammed the little door, and turned the key in
the lock. I rushed towards it and pulled at the handle, but it was
quite secure, and did not give in the least to my kicks and shoves.
'Hello!' I yelled. 'Hello! Colonel! Let me out!'
  "And then suddenly in the silence I heard a sound which sent my
heart into my mouth. It was the clank of the levers and the swish of
the leaking cylinder. He had set the engine at work. The lamp still
stood upon the floor where I had placed it when examining the
trough. By its light I saw that the black ceiling was coming down upon
me, slowly, jerkily, but as none knew better than myself, with a force
which must within a minute grind me to a shapeless pulp. I threw
myself, screaming, against the door, and dragged with my nails at
the lock. I implored the colonel to let me out, but the remorseless
clanking of the levers drowned my cries. The ceiling was only a foot
or two above my head, and with my hand upraised I could feel its hard,
rough surface. Then it flashed through my mind that the pain of my
death would depend very much upon the position in which I met it. If I
lay on my face the weight would come upon my spine, and I shuddered to
think of that dreadful snap. Easier the other way, perhaps; and yet,
had I the nerve to lie and look up at that deadly black shadow
wavering down upon me? Already I was unable to stand erect, when my
eye caught something which brought a gush of hope back to my heart.
  "I have said that though the floor and ceiling were of iron, the
walls were of wood. As I gave a last hurried glance around, I saw a
thin line of yellow light between two of the boards, which broadened
and broadened as a small panel was pushed backward. For an instant I
could hardly believe that here was indeed a door which led away from
death. The next instant I threw myself through, and lay
half-fainting upon the other side. the panel had closed again behind
me, but the crash of the lamp, and a few moments afterwards the
clang of the two slabs of metal, told me how narrow had been my
escape.
  "I was recalled to myself by a frantic plucking at my wrist, and I
found myself lying upon the stone floor of a narrow corridor, while
a woman bent over me and tugged at me with her left hand, while she
held a candle in her right. It was the same good friend whose
warning I had so foolishly rejected.
  "'Come! come!' she cried breathlessly. 'They will be here in a
moment. They will see that you are not there. Oh, do not waste the
so-precious time, but come!'
  "This time, at least, I did not scorn her advice. I staggered to
my feet and ran with her along the corridor and down a winding
stair. The latter led to another broad passage, and just as we reached
it we heard the sound of running feet and the shouting of two
voices, one answering the other from the floor on which we were and
from the one beneath. My guide stopped and looked about her like one
who is at her wit's end. Then she threw open a door which led into a
bedroom, through the window of which the moon was shining brightly.
  "'It is your only chance,' said she. 'It is high, but it may be that
you can jump it.'
  "As she spoke a light sprang into view at the further end of the
passage, and I saw the lean figure of Colonel Lysander Stark rushing
forward with a lantern in one hand and a weapon like a butchers
cleaver in the other. I rushed across the bedroom, flung open the
window, and looked out. How quiet and sweet and wholesome the garden
looked in the moonlight, and it could not be more than thirty feet
down. I clambered out upon the sill, but I hesitated to jump until I
should have heard what passed between my saviour and the ruffian who
pursued me. If she were ill-used, then at any risks I was determined
to go back to her assistance. The thought had hardly flashed through
my mind before be was at the door, pushing his way past her; but she
threw her arms round him and tried to hold him back.
  "'Fritz! Fritz!' she cried in English, 'remember your promise
after the last time. You said it should not be again. He will be
silent! Oh, he will be silent!'
  "'You are mad, Elise!' he shouted, struggling to break away from
her. 'You will be the ruin of us. He has seen too much. Let me pass, I
say!' He dashed her to one side, and, rushing to the window, cut at me
with his heavy weapon. I had let myself go, and was hanging by the
hands to the sill, when his blow fell. I was conscious of a dull pain,
my grip loosened, and I fell into the garden below.
  "I was shaken but not hurt by the fall; so I picked myself up and
rushed off among the bushes as hard as I could run, for I understood
that I was far from being out of danger yet. Suddenly, however, as I
ran, a deadly dizziness and sickness came over me. I glanced down at
my hand, which was throbbing painfully, and then, for the first
time, saw that my thumb had been cut off and that the blood was
pouring from my wound. I endeavoured to tie my handkerchief round
it, but there came a sudden buzzing in my ears, and next moment I fell
in a dead faint among the rose-bushes.
  "How long I remained unconscious I cannot tell. It must have been
a very long time, for the moon had sunk, and a bright morning was
breaking when I came to myself. My clothes were all sodden with dew,
and my coat-sleeve was drenched with blood from my wounded thumb.
The smarting of it recalled in an instant all the particulars of my
night's adventure, and I sprang to my feet with the feeling that I
might hardly yet be safe from my pursuers. But to my astonishment,
when I came to look round me, neither house nor garden were to be
seen. I had been lying in an angle of the hedge close by the highroad,
and just a little lower down was a long building, which proved, upon
my approaching it, to be the very station at which I had arrived
upon the previous night. Were it not for the ugly wound upon my
hand, all that had passed during those dreadful hours might have
been an evil dream.
  "Half dazed, I went into the station and asked about the morning
train. There would be one to Reading in less than an hour. The same
porter was on duty, I found, as had been there when I arrived. I
inquired of him whether he had ever heard of Colonel Lysander Stark.
The name was strange to him. Had he observed a carriage the night
before waiting for me? No, he had not. Was there a police station
anywhere near? There was one about three miles off.
  "It was too far for me to go, weak and ill as I was. I determined to
wait until I got back to town before telling my story to the police.
It was a little past six when I arrived, so I went first to have my
wound dressed, and then the doctor was kind enough to bring me along
here. I put the case into your hands and shall do exactly what you
advise."
  We both sat in silence for some little time after listening to
this extraordinary narrative. Then Sherlock Holmes pulled down from
the shelf one of the ponderous commonplace books in which he placed
his cuttings.
  "Here is an advertisement which will interest you," said he. "It
appeared in all the papers about a year ago. Listen to this:

  "Lost, on the 9th inst., Mr. Jeremiah Hayling, aged twenty-six, a
hydraulic engineer. Left his lodgings at ten o'clock at night, and has
not been heard of since. Was dressed in-

etc., etc. Ha! That represents the last time that the colonel needed
to have his machine overhauled, I fancy."
  "Good heavens!" cried my patient. "Then that explains what the
girl said."
  "Undoubtedly. It is quite clear that the colonel was a cool and
desperate man, who was absolutely determined that nothing should stand
in the way of his little game, like those out-and-out pirates who will
leave no survivor from a captured ship. Well, every moment now is
precious, so if you feel equal to it we shall go down to Scotland Yard
at once as a preliminary to starting for Eyford."
  Some three hours or so afterwards we were all in the train together,
bound from Reading to the little Berkshire village. There were
Sherlock Holmes, the hydraulic engineer, Inspector Bradstreet, of
Scotland Yard, a plain-clothes man, and myself. Bradstreet had
spread an ordnance map of the county out upon the seat and was busy
with his compasses drawing a circle with Eyford for its centre.
  "There you are," said he. "That circle is drawn at a radius of ten
miles from the village. The place we want must be somewhere near
that line. You said ten miles, I think, sir."
  "It was an hour's good drive."
  "And you think that they brought you back all that way when you were
unconscious?"
  "They must have done so. I have a confused memory, too, of having
been lifted and conveyed somewhere."
  "What I cannot understand," said I, "is why they should have
spared you when they found you lying fainting in the garden. Perhaps
the villain was softened by the woman's entreaties."
  "I hardly think that likely. I never saw a more inexorable face in
my life."
  "Oh, we shall soon clear up all that," said Bradstreet. "Well, I
have drawn my circle, and I only wish I knew at what point upon it the
folk that we are in search of are to be found."
  "I think I could lay my finger on it," said Holmes quietly.
  "Really, now!" cried the inspector, "you have formed your opinion!
Come, now, we shall see who agrees with you. I say it is south, for
the country is more deserted there."
  "And I say east," said my patient.
  "I am for west," remarked the plain-clothes man. "There are
several quiet little villages up there."
  "And I am for north," said I, "because there are no hills there, and
our friend says that he did not notice the carriage go up any."
  "Come," cried the inspector, laughing, "it's a very pretty diversity
of opinion. "We have boxed the compass among us. Who do you give
your casting vote to?"
  "You are all wrong."
  "But we can't all be."
  "Oh, yes, you can. This is my point." He placed his finger in the
centre of the circle. "This is where we shall find them."
  "But the twelve-mile drive?" gasped Hatherley.
  "Six out and six back. Nothing simpler. You say yourself that the
horse was fresh and glossy when you got in. How could it be that if it
had gone twelve miles over heavy roads?"
  "Indeed, it is a likely ruse enough," observed Bradstreet
thoughtfully. "Of course there can be no doubt as to the nature of
this gang."
  "None at all," said Holmes. "They are coiners on a large scale,
and have used the machine to form the amalgam which has taken the
place of silver."
  "We have known for some time that a clever gang was at work," said
the inspector. "They have been turning out half-crowns by the
thousand. We even traced them as far as Reading, but could get no
farther, for they had covered their traces in a way that showed that
they were very old hands. But now, thanks to this lucky chance, I
think that we have got them right enough."
  But the inspector was mistaken, for those criminals were not
destined to fall into the hands of justice. As we rolled into Eyford
Station we saw a gigantic column of smoke which streamed up from
behind a small clump of trees in the neighbourhood and hung like an
immense ostrich feather over the landscape.
  "A house on fire?" asked Bradstreet as the train steamed off again
on its way.
  "Yes, sir!" said the station-master.
  "When did it break out?"
  "I hear that it was during the night, sir, but it has got worse, and
the whole place is in a blaze."
  "Whose house is it?"
  "Dr. Becher's."
  "Tell me," broke in the engineer, "is Dr. Becher a German, very
thin, with a long, sharp nose?"
  The station-master laughed heartily. "No, sir, Dr. Becher is an
Englishman, and there isn't a man in the parish who has a better-lined
waistcoat. But he has a gentleman staying with him, a patient, as I
understand, who is a foreigner, and he looks as if a little good
Berkshire beef would do him no harm."
  The station-master had not finished his speech before we were all
hastening in the direction of the fire. The road topped a low hill,
and there was a great widespread whitewashed building in front of
us, spouting fire at every chink and window, while in the garden in
front three fire-engines were vainly striving to keep the flames
under.
  "That's it!" cried Hatherley, in intense excitement. "There is the
gravel-drive, and there are the rose-bushes where I lay. That second
window is the one that I jumped from."
  "Well, at least," said Holmes, "you have had your revenge upon them.
There can be no question that it was your oillamp which, when it was
crushed in the Press, set fire to the wooden walls, though no doubt
they were too excited in the chase after you to observe it at the
time. Now your eyes open in this crowd for your friends of last night,
though I very much fear that they are a good hundred miles off by
now."
  And Holmes's fears came to be realized, for from that day to this no
word has ever been heard either of the beautiful woman, the sinister
German, or the morose Englishman. Early that morning a peasant had met
a cart containing several people and some very bulky boxes driving
rapidly in the direction of Reading, but there all traces of the
fugitives disappeared, and even Holmes's ingenuity failed ever to
discover the least clue as to their whereabouts.
  The firemen had been much perturbed at the strange arrangements
which they had found within, and still more so by discovering a
newly severed human thumb upon a window-sill of the second floor.
About sunset, however, their efforts were at last successful, and they
subdued the flames, but not before the roof had fallen in, and the
whole place been reduced to such absolute ruin that, save some twisted
cylinders and iron piping, not a trace remained of the machinery which
had cost our unfortunate acquaintance so dearly. Large masses of
nickel and of tin were discovered stored in an out-house, but no coins
were to be found, which may have explained the presence of those bulky
boxes which have been already referred to.
  How our hydraulic engineer had been conveyed from the garden to
the spot where he recovered his senses might have remained forever a
mystery were it not for the soft mould, which told us a very plain
tale. He had evidently been carried down by two persons, one of whom
had remarkably small feet and the other unusually large ones. On the
whole, it was most probable that the silent Englishman, being less
bold or less murderous than his companion, had assisted the woman to
bear the unconscious man out of the way of danger.
  "Well," said our engineer ruefully as we took our seats to return
once more to London, "it has been a pretty business for me! I have
lost my thumb and I have lost a fifty-guinea fee, and what have I
gained?"
  "Experience," said Holmes, laughing. "Indirectly it may be of value,
you know; you have only to put it into words to gain the reputation of
being excellent company for the remainder of your existence."


                               -THE END-
