The Adventure of the Engineer's Thumb

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 intro-
ducing 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 forgo his Bohemian habits
so far as to come and visit us. My practice had steadily in-
creased, and as I happened to live at no very great distance from
Paddington Station, I got a few patients from among the offi-
cials. One of these, whom I had cured of a painful and lingering
disease, was never weary of advertising my virtues and of en-
deavouring 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 dooties, 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 he 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, hydrau-
iic engineer, 1 6A. 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 ail. 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. When I came to I
found that it was still bleeding, sol tied one end of my handker-
chief 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 cov-
ered 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 evi-
dently 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 evi-
dence 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."
"We'll 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 com-
posed 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, or-
dered 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 l 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 27 pounds lOs. 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 light-
ning 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 thought-
ful 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 l; '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 ex-
plained, 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 hand 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 fuller's-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 aher 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 lantern. 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 con-
tinue 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, pulled 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. Sud-
denly 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 con-
straint and made a step forward, with her hands wrung 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 uncon-
cerned 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 exercis-
ing 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 al-
lowed 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 pur-
pose. 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 exclama-
tion 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 ma-
chine.' 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 ancther 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
butcher's 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 be-
tween 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 he 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. Sud-
denly, 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 Iying
in an angle of the hedge close by the highroad, and just a little
lower down was a long building, which proved, upon my ap-
proaching 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 some-
where 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.l 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
bener-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 oil-lamp
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 keep 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 morn-
ing 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 arrange-
ments which they had found within, and still more so by discov-
ering 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 uncon-
scious 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 exlstence."