The Return of Sherlock Holmes Part 8 (2/2)
Holorse To my horror I perceived that the yellow blosso the heather were dark stains of clotted blood
”Bad!” said Holmes ”Bad! Stand clear, Watson! Not an unnecessary footstep! What do I read here? He fell wounded--he stood up--he remounted--he proceeded But there is no other track Cattle on this side path He was surely not gored by a bull? Impossible! But I see no traces of anyone else We must push on, Watson Surely, with stains as well as the track to guide us, he cannot escape us now”
Our search was not a very long one The tracks of the tire began to curve fantastically upon the wet and shi+ning path Suddenly, as I looked ahead, the gleaorse-bushes Out of theed a bicycle, Palmer-tired, one pedal bent, and the whole front of it horribly smeared and sobred with blood On the other side of the bushes a shoe was projecting We ran round, and there lay the unfortunate rider He was a tall lass of which had been knocked out The cause of his death was a frightful blow upon the head, which had crushed in part of his skull That he could have gone on after receiving such an injury said e of the man He wore shoes, but no socks, and his open coat disclosed a nightshi+rt beneath it It was undoubtedly the German master
Holreat attention He then sat in deep thought for a tirim discovery had not, in his opinion, advanced us much in our inquiry
”It is a little difficult to knohat to do, Watson,” said he, at last ”My own inclinations are to push this inquiry on, for we have already lost so much time that we cannot afford to waste another hour On the other hand, we are bound to inform the police of the discovery, and to see that this poor fellow's body is looked after”
”I could take a note back”
”But I need your co peat up yonder Bring hiht the peasant across, and Holhtened man with a note to Dr Huxtable
”Now, Watson,” said he, ”we have picked up two clues thisOne is the bicycle with the Palmer tire, and we see what that has led to The other is the bicycle with the patched Dunlop Before we start to investigate that, let us try to realize e do know, so as to make the most of it, and to separate the essential from the accidental”
”First of all, I wish to impress upon you that the boy certainly left of his own free-will He got down from hisand he went off, either alone or with someone That is sure”
I assented
”Well, now, let us turn to this unfortunate German master The boy was fully dressed when he fled Therefore, he foresahat he would do But the German ithout his socks He certainly acted on very short notice”
”Undoubtedly”
”Why did he go? Because, froht of the boy, because he wished to overtake hi him back He seized his bicycle, pursued the lad, and in pursuing him met his death”
”So it would seeu a little boy would be to run after him He would know that he could overtake him But the German does not do so He turns to his bicycle I am told that he was an excellent cyclist He would not do this, if he did not see that the boy had some swift means of escape”
”The other bicycle”
”Let us continue our reconstruction He meets his death five miles froht conceivably discharge, but by a savage blow dealt by a vigorous arht was a swift one, since it took five miles before an expert cyclist could overtake theedy What do we find? A few cattle-tracks, nothing more I took a wide sweep round, and there is no path within fifty yards Another cyclist could have had nothing to do with the actual murder, nor were there any human foot-marks”
”Holmes,” I cried, ”this is i remark It IS impossible as I state it, and therefore IYet you saw for yourself Can you suggest any fallacy?”
”He could not have fractured his skull in a fall?”
”In a morass, Watson?”
”I am at my wit's end”
”Tut, tut, we have solved some worse problems At least we have plenty ofexhausted the Palmer, let us see what the Dunlop with the patched cover has to offer us”
We picked up the track and followed it onward for so, heather-tufted curve, and we left the watercourse behind us No further help from tracks could be hoped for At the spot wherethe last of the Dunlop tire it ht equally have led to Holdernesse Hall, the stately towers of which rose soe which lay in front of us and h road
As we approached the forbidding and squalid inn, with the sign of a garoan, and clutchedHe had had one of those violent strains of the ankle which leave a man helpless With difficulty he limped up to the door, where a squat, dark, elderlya black clay pipe
”How are you, Mr Reuben Hayes?” said Holet my name so pat?” the country eyes
”Well, it's printed on the board above your head It's easy to see a man who isas a carriage in your stables?”
”No, I have not”
”I can hardly put round”
”But I can't walk”
”Well, then hop”
Mr Reuben Hayes's racious, but Holood-humour
”Look here, my man,” said he ”This is really rather an aard fix for et on”
”Neither do I,” said the morose landlord
”The n for the use of a bicycle”
The landlord pricked up his ears
”Where do you want to go?”
”To Holdernesse Hall”
”Pals of the Dook, I suppose?” said the landlord, surveying our hed good-naturedly
”He'll be glad to see us, anyhow”
”Why?”
”Because we bring hiave a very visible start
”What, you're on his track?”
”He has been heard of in Liverpool They expect to get him every hour”