Toby proved to be an ugly, long-haired, lop-eared creature,half spaniel and half lurcher, brown and white in color, with avery clumsy, waddling gait. It accepted, after some hesitation, alump of sugar which the old naturalist handed to me, and, havingthus sealed an alliance, it followed me to the cab and made nodifficulties about accompanying me. It had just struck three on thePalace clock when I found myself back once more at PondicherryLodge. The ex-prize-fighter McMurdo had, I found, been arrestedas an accessory, and both he and Mr. Sholto had been marched offto the station. Two constables guarded the narrow gate, but theyallowed me to pass with the dog on my mentioning the detective’sname.
Holmes was standing on the doorstep with his hands in his pockets,smoking his pipe.
“Ah, you have him there!” said he. “Good dog, then! AtheneyJones has gone. We have had an immense display of energysince you left. He has arrested not only friend Thaddeus but thegatekeeper, the housekeeper, and the Indian servant. We have theplace to ourselves but for a sergeant upstairs. Leave the dog hereand come up.”
We tied Toby to the hall table and reascended the stairs. Theroom was as he had left it, save that a sheet had been draped overthe central figure. A weary-looking police-sergeant reclined in thecorner.
“Lend me your bull’s eye, sergeant,” said my companion. “Nowtie this bit of card round my neck, so as to hang it in front of me.
Thank you. Now I must kick off my boots and stockings. Justyou carry them down with you, Watson. I am going to do a littleclimbing. And dip my handkerchief into the creasote. That willdo. Now come up into the garret with me for a moment.”
We clambered up through the hole. Holmes turned his lightonce more upon the footsteps in the dust.
“I wish you particularly to notice these footmarks,” he said. “Doyou observe anything noteworthy about them?”
“They belong,” I said, “to a child or a small woman.”
“Apart from their size, though. Is there nothing else?”
“They appear to be much as other footmarks.”
“Not at all. Look here! This is the print of a right foot in thedust. Now I make one with my naked foot beside it. What is thechief difference?”
“Your toes are all cramped together. The other print has eachtoe distinctly divided.”
“Quite so. That is the point. Bear that in mind. Now, would youkindly step over to that flap-window and smell the edge of thewoodwork? I shall stay over here, as I have this handkerchief inmy hand.”
I did as he directed and was instantly conscious of a strong tarrysmell.
“That is where he put his foot in getting out. If YOU can tracehim, I should think that Toby will have no difficulty. Now rundownstairs, loose the dog, and look out for Blondin.”
By the time that I got out into the grounds Sherlock Holmeswas on the roof, and I could see him like an enormous glow-wormcrawling very slowly along the ridge. I lost sight of him behind astack of chimneys, but he presently reappeared and then vanishedonce more upon the opposite side. When I made my way roundthere I found him seated at one of the corner eaves.
“That you, Watson?”he cried.
“Yes.”
“This is the place. What is that black thing down there?”
“A water-barrel.”
“Top on it?”
“Yes!”
“No sign of a ladder?”
“No.”
“Confound the fellow! It’s a most breakneck place. I ought to beable to come down where he could climb up. The water-pipe feelspretty firm. Here goes, anyhow.”
There was a scuffling of feet, and the lantern began to comesteadily down the side of the wall. Then with a light spring hecame on to the barrel, and from there to the earth.
“It was easy to follow him,” he said, drawing on his stockingsand boots. “Tiles were loosened the whole way along, and inhis hurry he had dropped this. It confirms my diagnosis, as youdoctors express it.”
The object which he held up to me was a small pocket or pouchwoven out of colored grasses and with a few tawdry beads strunground it. In shape and size it was not unlike a cigarette-case. Insidewere half a dozen spines of dark wood, sharp at one end and roundedat the other, like that which had struck Bartholomew Sholto.
“They are hellish things,” said he. “Look out that you don’t prickyourself. I’m delighted to have them, for the chances are that theyare all he has. There is the less fear of you or me finding one in ourskin before long. I would sooner face a Martini bullet, myself. Areyou game for a six-mile trudge, Watson?”
“Certainly,” I answered.
“Your leg will stand it?”
“Oh, yes.”
“Here you are, doggy! Good old Toby! Smell it, Toby, smell it!”
He pushed the creasote handkerchief under the dog’s nose, whilethe creature stood with its fluffy legs separated, and with a mostcomical cock to its head, like a connoisseur sniffing the bouquetof a famous vintage. Holmes then threw the handkerchief to adistance, fastened a stout cord to the mongrel’s collar, and led himto the foot of the water-barrel. The creature instantly broke intoa succession of high, tremulous yelps and, with his nose on theground and his tail in the air, pattered off upon the trail at a pacewhich strained his leash and kept us at the top of our speed.
The east had been gradually whitening, and we could now seesome distance in the cold gray light. The square, massive house,with its black, empty windows and high, bare walls, toweredup, sad and forlorn, behind us. Our course led right across thegrounds, in and out among the trenches and pits with which theywere scarred and intersected. The whole place, with its scattereddirt-heaps and ill-grown shrubs, had a blighted, ill-omened lookwhich harmonized with the black tragedy which hung over it.
On reaching the boundary wall Toby ran along, whining eagerly,underneath its shadow, and stopped finally in a corner screenedby a young beech. Where the two walls joined, several bricks hadbeen loosened, and the crevices left were worn down and roundedupon the lower side, as though they had frequently been used asa ladder. Holmes clambered up, and taking the dog from me hedropped it over upon the other side.
