The Valley of Fear ...............................................................................................................................................1

Arthur Conan Doyle .................................................................................................................................1

I believe that I am one of the most longsuffering of mortals; but I'll admit that I was annoyed at the sardonic

He was too much absorbed with his own thoughts to give any immediate answer to my remonstrance. He

leaned upon his hand, with his untasted breakfast before him, and he stared at the slip of paper which he had

just drawn from its envelope. Then he took the envelope itself, held it up to the light, and very carefully

"It is Porlock's writing," said he thoughtfully. "I can hardly doubt that it is Porlock's writing, though I have

seen it only twice before. The Greek e with the peculiar top flourish is distinctive. But if it is Porlock, then it

He was speaking to himself rather than to me; but my vexation disappeared in the interest which the words

"Porlock, Watson, is a nomdeplume, a mere identification mark; but behind it lies a shifty and evasive

personality. In a former letter he frankly informed me that the name was not his own, and defied me ever to

trace him among the teeming mil lions of this great city. Porlock is important, not for himself, but for the

great man with whom he is in touch. Picture to yourself the pilot fish with the shark, the jackal with the lion

anything that is insignificant in companionship with what is formidable: not only formidable, Watson, but

sinister in the highest degree sinister. That is where he comes within my purview. You have heard me

"A touch! A distinct touch!" cried Holmes. "You are devel oping a certain unexpected vein of pawky

humour, Watson, against which I must learn to guard myself. But in calling Moriarty a criminal you are

uttering libel in the eyes of the law and there lie the glory and the wonder of it! The greatest schemer of

all time, the organizer of every deviltry, the control ling brain of the underworld, a brain which might have

made or marred the destiny of nations that's the man! But so aloof is he from general suspicion, so

immune from criticism, so admirable in his management and selfeffacement, that for those very words that

you have uttered he could hale you to a court and emerge with your year's pension as a solatium for his

wounded charac ter. Is he not the celebrated author of The Dynamics of an Asteroid, a book which ascends

to such rarefied heights of pure mathematics that it is said that there was no man in the scientific press

capable of criticizing it? Is this a man to traduce? Foul mouthed doctor and slandered professor such

would be your respective roles! That's genius, Watson. But if I am spared by lesser men, our day will surely

"May I be there to see!" I exclaimed devoutly. "But you were speaking of this man Porlock."

"Ah, yes the socalled Porlock is a link in the chain some little way from its great attachment. Porlock is

not quite a sound link between ourselves. He is the only flaw in that chain so far as I have been able to test

"Exactly, my dear Watson! Hence the extreme importance of Porlock. Led on by some rudimentary

aspirations towards right, and encouraged by the judicious stimulation of an occasional tenpound note sent

to him by devious methods, he has once or twice given me advance information which has been of value

that highest value which anticipates and prevents rather than avenges crime. I cannot doubt that, if we had the

cipher, we should find that this communication is of the nature that I indicate."

Again Holmes flattened out the paper upon his unused plate. I rose and, leaning over him, stared down at the

"Because there are many ciphers which I would read as easily as I do the apocrypha of the agony column:

such crude devices amuse the intelligence without fatiguing it. But this is different. It is clearly a reference to

the words in a page of some book. Until I am told which page and which book I am powerless."

"Clearly because those are words which were not contained in the page in question."

"Yow native shrewdness, my dear Watson, that innate cun ning which is the delight of your friends, would

surely prevent you from inclosing cipher and message in the same envelope. Should it miscarry, you are

undone. As it is, both have to go wrong before any harm comes from it. Our second post is now overdue, and

I shall be surprised if it does not bring us either a further letter of explanation, or, as is more probable, the

Holmes's calculation was fulfilled within a very few minutes by the appearance of Billy, the page, with the

"The same writing," remarked Holmes, as he opened the envelope, "and actually signed," he added in an

exultant voice as he unfolded the epistle. "Come, we are getting on, Watson." His brow clouded, however, as

"Dear me, this is very disappointing! I fear, Watson, that all our expectations come to nothing. I trust that the

Holmes sat for some little time twisting this letter between his fingers, and frowning, as he stared into the

"After all," he said at last, "there may be nothing in it. It may be only his guilty conscience. Knowing himself

"No less! When any of that party talk about 'He' you know whom they mean. There is one predominant 'He'

"Hum! That's a large question. When you have one of the first brains of Europe up against you, and all the

powers of darkness at his back, there are infinite possibilities. Anyhow, Friend Porlock is evidently scared out

of his senses kindly com pare the writing in the note to that upon its envelope; which was done, he tells

us, before this illomened visit. The one is clear and firm. The other hardly legible."

"Because he feared I would make some inquiry after him in that case, and possibly bring trouble on him."

"No doubt," said I. "Of course." I had picked up the original cipher message and was bending my brows over

it. "It's pretty maddening to think that an important secret may lie here on this slip of paper, and that it is

Sherlock Holmes had pushed away his untasted breakfast and lit the unsavoury pipe which was the

companion of his deepest meditations. "I wonder!" said he, leaning back and staring at the ceiling. "Perhaps

there are points which have escaped your Machiavellian intellect. Let us consider the problem in the light of

pure reason. This man's reference is to a book. That is our point of departure."

"Let us see then if we can narrow it down. As I focus my mind upon it, it seems rather less impenetrable.

"Well, well, it is surely not quite so bad as that. The cipher message begins with a large 534, does it not? We

may take it as a working hypothesis that 534 is the particular page to which the cipher refers. So our book has

already become a large book which is surely something gained. What other indications have we as to the

nature of this large book? The next sign is C2. What do you make of that, Watson?"

"Hardly that, Watson. You will, I am sure, agree with me that if the page be given, the number of the chapter

is immate rial. Also that if page 534 finds us only in the second chapter, the length of the first one must have

"Brilliant, Watson. You are scintillating this morning. If it is not column, then I am very much deceived. So

now, you see, we begin to visualize a large book printed in double columns which are each of a considerable

iength, since one of the words is numbered in the document as the two hundred and ninety third. Have we

"Surely you do yourself an injustice. One more coruscation, my dear Watson yet another brainwave!

Had the volume been an unusual one, he would have sent it to me. Instead of that, he had intended, before his

plans were nipped, to send me the clue in this envelope. He says so in his note. This would seem to indicate

that the book is one which he thought I would have no difficulty in finding for myself. He had it and he

imagined that I would have it, too. In short, Watson, it is a very common book."

"So we have contracted our field of search to a large book, printed in double columns and in common use."

"Good, Watson, good! But not, if I may say so, quite good enough! Even if I accepted the compliment for

myself I could hardly name any volume which would be less likely to iie at the elbow of one of Moriarty's

associates. Besides, the editions of Holy Writ are so numerous that he could hardly suppose that two copies

would have the same pagination. This is clearly a book which is standardized. He knows for certain that his

"Exactly. Therein lies our salvation. Our search is narrowed down to standardized books which anyone may

"There are difficulties, Watson. The vocabulary of Bradshaw is nervous and terse, but limited. The selection

of words would hardly lend itself to the sending of general messages. We will eliminate Bradshaw. The

"Excellent, Watson! I am very much mistaken if you have not touched the spot. An almanac! Let us consider

the claims of Whitaker's Almanac. It is in common use. It has the requisite number of pages. It is in double

column. Though reserved in its earlier vocabulary, it becomes, if I remember right, quite garru lous towards

the end." He picked the volume from his desk. "Here is page 534, column two, a substantial block of print

dealing, I perceive, with the trade and resources of British India. Jot down the words, Watson! Number

thirteen is 'Mahratta.' Not, I fear, a very auspicious beginning. Number one hundred and twentyseven is

'Government'; which at least makes sense, though somewhat irrelevant to ourselves and Professor Moriarty.

Now let us try again. What does the Mahratta government do? Alas! the next word is 'pig'sbristles.' We are

He had spoken in jesting vein, but the twitching of his bushy eyebrows bespoke his disappointment and

irritation. I sat help less and unhappy, staring into the fire. A long silence was broken by a sudden

exclamation from Holmes, who dashed at a cupboard, from which he emerged with a second yellowcovered

"We pay the price, Watson, for being too uptodate!" he cried. "We are before our time, and suffer the usual

penalties. Being the seventh of January, we have very properly laid in the new almanac. It is more than likely

that Porlock took his mes sage from the old one. No doubt he would have told us so had his letter of

explanation been written. Now let us see what page 534 has in store for us. Number thirteen is 'There,' which

is much more promising. Number one hundred and twentyseven is 'is' 'There is' " Holmes's eyes were

gleaming with excite ment, and his thin, nervous fingers twitched as he counted the words " 'danger.' Ha!

Ha! Capital! Put that down, Watson. 'There is danger may come very soon one.' Then we

confidence is pressing.' There, Watson! What do you think of pure reason and its fruit? If the green

I was staring at the strange message which I had scrawled, as he deciphered it, upon a sheet of foolscap on

"On the contrary, he has done quite remarkably well," said Holmes. "When you search a single column for

words with which to express your meaning, you can hardly expect to get everything you want. You are bound

to leave something to the intelligence of your correspondent. The purport is perfectly clear. Some deviltry is

intended against one Douglas, whoever he may be, residing as stated, a rich country gentleman. He is sure

'confidence' was as near as he could get to 'confident' that it is pressing. There is our result and a very

Holmes had the impersonal joy of the true artist in his better work, even as he mourned darkly when it fell

below the high level to which he aspired. He was still chuckling over his success when Billy swung open the

Those were the early days at the end of the '80's, when Alec MacDonald was far from having attained the

national fame which he has now achieved. He was a young but trusted member of the detective force, who

had distinguished himself in several cases which had been intrusted to him. His tall, bony figure gave

promise of exceptional physical strength, while his great cranium and deepset, lustrous eyes spoke no less

clearly of the keen intelligence which twinkled out from behind his bushy eyebrows. He was a silent, precise

Twice already in his career had Holmes helped him to attain success, his own sole reward being the

intellectual joy of the problem. For this reason the affection and respect of the Scotch man for his amateur

colleague were profound, and he showed them by the frankness with which he consulted Holmes in every

difficulty. Mediocrity knows nothing higher than itself; but talent instantly recognizes genius, and

MacDonald had talent enough for his profession to enable him to perceive that there was no humiliation in

seeking the assistance of one who already stood alone in Europe, both in his gifts and in his experience.

Holmes was not prone to friendship, but he was tolerant of the big Scotchman, and smiled at the sight of him.

"You are an early bird, Mr. Mac," said he. "I wish you luck with your worm. I fear this means that there is

"If you said 'hope' instead of 'fear,' it would be nearer the truth, I'm thinking, Mr. Holmes," the inspector

answered, with a knowing grin. "Well, maybe a wee nip would keep out the raw morning chill. No, I won't

smoke, I thank you. I'll have to be pushing on my way; for the early hours of a case are the precious ones, as

The inspector had stopped suddenly, and was staring with a look of absolute amazement at a paper upon the

"Douglas!" he stammered. "Birlstone! What's this, Mr. Holmes? Man, it's witchcraft! Where in the name of

"It is a cipher that Dr. Watson and I have had occasion to solve. But why what's amiss with the names?"

The inspector looked from one to the other of us in dazed astonishment. "Just this," said he, "that Mr.

It was one of those dramatic moments for which my friend existed. It would be an overstatement to say that

he was shocked or even excited by the amazing announcement. Without having a tinge of cruelty in his

singular composltion, he was undoubtedly callous from long overstimulation. Yet, if his emotions were

dulled, his intellectual perceptions were exceedingly active. There was no trace then of the horror which I had

myself felt at this curt declaration; but his face showed rather the quiet and inter ested composure of the

chemist who sees the crystals falling into position from his oversaturated solution.

"Interested, Mr. Mac, but hardly surprised. Why should I be surprised? I receive an anonymous

communication from a quar ter which I know to be important, warning me that danger threatens a certain

person. Within an hour I learn that this danger has actually materialized and that the person is dead. I am

In a few short sentences he explained to the inspector the facts about the letter and the cipher. MacDonald sat

with his chin on his hands and his great sandy eyebrows bunched into a yellow tangle.

"I was going down to Birlstone this morning," said he. "I had come to ask you if you cared to come with me

you and your friend here. But from what you say we might perhaps be doing better work in London."

"Hang it all, Mr. Holmes!" cried the inspector. "The papers will be full of the Birlstone mystery in a day or

two; but where's the mystery if there is a man in London who prophesied the crime before ever it occurred?

"No doubt, Mr. Mac. But how do you propose to lay your hands on the socalled Porlock?"

MacDonald turned over the letter which Holmes had handed him. "Posted in Camberwell that doesn't help

us much. Name, you say, is assumed. Not much to go on, certainly. Didn't you say that you have sent him

"Because I always keep faith. I had promised when he first wrote that I would not try to trace him."

Inspector MacDonald smiled, and his eyelid quivered as he glanced towards me. "I won't conceal from you,

Mr. Holmes, that we think in the C. I. D. that you have a wee bit of a bee in your bonnet over this professor. I

made some inquiries myself about the matter. He seems to be a verly respectable, learned, and talented sort of

"Man, you can't but recognize it! After I heard your view I made it my business to see him. I had a chat with

him on eclipses. How the talk got that way I canna think; but he had out a reflector lantern and a globe, and

made it all clear in a minute. He lent me a book; but I don't mind saying that it was a bit above my head,

though I had a good Aberdeen upbringing. He'd have made a grand meenister with his thin face and gray hair

and solemnlike way of talking. When he put his hand on my shoul der as we were parting, it was like a

Holmes chuckled and rubbed his hands. "Great!" he said. "Great! Tell me, Friend MacDonald, this pleasing

"I don't miss much, Mr. Holmes. Maybe I learned that from you. Yes, I saw the picture a young woman

"Jean Baptiste Greuze," Holmes continued, joining his finger tips and leaning well back in his chair, "was a

French artist who flourished between the years 1750 and 1800. I allude, of course to his working career.

Modern criticism has more than indorsed the high opinion formed of him by his contemporaries."

"We are doing so," Holmes interrupted. "All that I am saying has a very direct and vital bearing upon what

you have called the Birlstone Mystery. In fact, it may in a sense be called the very centre of it."

MacDonald smiled feebly, and looked appealingly to me. "Your thoughts move a bit too quick for me, Mr.

Holmes. You leave out a link or two, and I can't get over the gap. What in the whole wide world can be the

"All knowledge comes useful to the detective," remarked Holmes. "Even the trivial fact that in the year 1865

a picture by Greuze entitled La Jeune Fille a l'Agneau fetched one million two hundred thousand francs

more than forty thousand pounds at the Portalis sale may start a train of reflection in your mind."

"I may remind you," Holmes continued, "that the professor's salary can be ascertained in several trustworthy

"Ay, that's remarkable," said the inspector thoughtfully. "Talk away, Mr. Holmes. I'm just loving it. It's fine!"

Holmes smiled. He was always warmed by genuine admiration the characteristic of the real artist. "What

"We've time yet," said the inspector, glancing at his watch. "I've a cab at the door, and it won't take us twenty

minutes to Victoria. But about this picture: I thought you told me once, Mr. Holmes, that you had never met

"Ah, that's another matter. I have been three times in his rooms, twice waiting for him under different pretexts

and leaving before he came. Once well, I can hardly tell about the once to an official detective. It was on

the last occasion that I took the liberty of running over his papers with the most unexpected results."

"Absolutely nothing. That was what amazed me. However, you have now seen the point of the picture. It

shows him to be a very wealthy man. How did he acquire wealth? He is unmarried. His younger brother is a

station master in the west of England. His chair is worth seven hundred a year. And he owns a Greuze."

"You mean that he has a great income and that he must earn it in an illegal fashion?"

"Exactly. Of course I have other reasons for thinking so dozens of exiguous threads which lead vaguely

up towards the centre of the web where the poisonous, motionless creature is lurking. I only mention the

"Well, Mr. Holmes, I admit that what you say is interesting: it's more than interesting it's just wonderful.

But let us have it a little clearer if you can. Is it forgery, coining, burglary where does the money come

"Well, the name has a familiar sound. Someone in a novel, was he not? I don't take much stock of detectives

in novels chaps that do things and never let you see how they do them. That's just inspiration: not

"Jonathan Wild wasn't a detective, and he wasn't in a novel. He was a master criminal, and he lived last

"Mr. Mac, the most practical thing that you ever did in your life would be to shut yourself up for three

months and read twelve hours a day at the annals of crime. Everything comes in circles even Professor

Moriarty. Jonathan Wild was the hidden force of the London criminals, to whom he sold his brains and his

organization on a fifteen per cent commission. The old wheel turns, and the same spoke comes up. It's all

been done before, and will be again. I'll tell you one or two things about Moriarty which may interest you."

"I happen to know who is the first link in his chain a chain with this Napoleongonewrong at one end,

and a hundred broken fighting men, pickpockets, blackmailers, and card sharpers at the other, with every sort

of crime in between. His chief of staff is Colonel Sebastian Moran, as aloof and guarded and inaccessible to

"Six thousand a year. That's paying for brains, you see the American business principle. I learned that

detail quite by chance. It's more than the Prime Minister gets. That gives you an idea of Moriarty's gains and

of the scale on which he works. Another point: I made it my business to hunt down some of Moriarty's

checks lately just common innocent checks that he pays his household bills with. They were drawn on six

"That he wanted no gossip about his wealth. No single man should know what he had. I have no doubt that he

has twenty banking accounts; the bulk of his fortune abroad in the Deutsche Bank or the Credit Lyonnais as

likely as not. Sometime when you have a year or two to spare I commend to you the study of Professor

Inspector MacDonald had grown steadily more impressed as the conversation proceeded. He had lost himself

in his interest. Now his practical Scotch intelligence brought him back with a snap to the matter in hand.

"He can keep, anyhow," said he. "You've got us sidetracked with your interesting anecdotes, Mr. Holmes.

What really counts is your remark that there is some connection between the profes sor and the crime. That

you get from the warning received through the man Porlock. Can we for our present practical needs get any

"We may form some conception as to the motives of the crime. It is, as I gather from your original remarks,

an inexplica ble, or at least an unexplained, murder. Now, presuming that the source of the crime is as we

suspect it to be, there might be two different motives. In the first place, I may tell you that Moriarty rules with

a rod of iron over his people. His discipline is tremendous. There is only one punishment in his code. It is

death. Now we might suppose that this murdered man this Douglas whose approaching fate was known by

one of the archcriminal's subordinates had in some way betrayed the chief. His punishment followed,

"The other is that it has been engineered by Moriarty in the ordinary course of business. Was there any

"If so, it would, of course, be against the first hypothesis and in favour of the second. Moriarty may have

been engaged to engineer it on a promise of part spoils, or he may have been paid so much down to manage

it. Either is possible. But whichever it may be, or if it is some third combination, it is down at Birlstone that

we must seek the solution. I know our man too well to suppose that he has left anything up here which may

"Then to Birlstone we must go!" cried MacDonald, jumping from his chair. "My word! it's later than I

thought. I can give you, gentlemen, five minutes for preparation, and that is all."

"And ample for us both," said Holmes, as he sprang up and hastened to change from his dressing gown to his

coat. "While we are on our way, Mr. Mac, I will ask you to be good enough to tell me all about it."

"All about it" proved to be disappointingly little, and yet there was enough to assure us that the case before us

might well be worthy of the expert's closest attention. He brightened and rubbed his thin hands together as he

listened to the meagre but remarkable details. A long series of sterile weeks lay behind us, and here at last

there was a fitting object for those remarkable powers which, like all special gifts, become irksome to their

owner when they are not in use. That razor brain blunted and rusted with inaction.

Sherlock Holmes's eyes glistened, his pale cheeks took a warmer hue, and his whole eager face shone with an

inward light when the call for work reached him. Leaning forward in the cab, he listened intently to

MacDonald's short sketch of the problem which awaited us in Sussex. The inspector was himself depen

dent, as he explained to us, upon a scribbled account forwarded to him by the milk train in the early hours of

the morning. White Mason, the local officer, was a personal friend, and hence MacDonald had been notified

much more promptly than is usual at Scotland Yard when provincials need their assistance. It is a very cold

"Then how did you get at Mr. Douglas and the fact that he had been horribly murdered?"

"That was in the inclosed official report. It didn't say 'horri ble': that's not a recognized official term. It gave

the name John Douglas. It mentioned that his injuries had been in the head, from the discharge of a shotgun.

It also mentioned the hour of the alarm, which was close on to midnight last night. It added that the case was

undoubtedly one of murder, but that no arrest had been made, and that the case was one which presented

some very perplexing and extraordinary features. That's absolutely all we have at present, Mr. Holmes."

"Then, with your permission, we will leave it at that, Mr. Mac. The temptation to form premature theories

upon insuffi cient data is the bane of our profession. I can see only two things for certain at present a

great brain in London, and a dead man in Sussex. It's the chain between that we are going to trace."

Now for a moment I will ask leave to remove my own insignifi cant personality and to describe events

which occurred before we arrived upon the scene by the light of knowledge which came to us afterwards.

Only in this way can I make the reader appreciate the people concerned and the strange setting in which their

The village of Birlstone is a small and very ancient cluster of halftimbered cottages on the northern border

of the county of Sussex. For centuries it had remained unchanged; but within the last few years its

picturesque appearance and situation have attracted a number of welltodo residents, whose villas peep out

from the woods around. These woods are locally supposed to be the extreme fringe of the great Weald forest,

which thins away until it reaches the northern chalk downs. A number of small shops have come into being to

meet the wants of the increased population; so there seems some prospect that Birlstone may soon grow from

an ancient village into a modern town. It is the centre for a considerable area of country, since Tunbridge

Wells, the nearest place of importance, is ten or twelve miles to the eastward, over the borders of Kent.

About half a mile from the town, standing in an old park famous for its huge beech trees, is the ancient Manor

House of Birlstone. Part of this venerable building dates back to the time of the first crusade, when Hugo de

Capus built a fortalice in the centre of the estate, which had been granted to him by the Red King. This was

destroyed by fire in 1543, and some of its smokeblackened corner stones were used when, in Jacobean

The Manor House, with its many gables and its small diamond paned windows, was still much as the

builder had left it in the early seventeenth century. Of the double moats which had guarded its more warlike

predecessor, the outer had been allowed to dry up, and served the humble function of a kitchen garden. The

inner one was still there, and lay forty feet in breadth, though now only a few feet in depth, round the whole

house. A small stream fed it and continued beyond it, so that the sheet of water though turbid, was never

ditchlike or unhealthy. The ground floor windows were within a foot of the surface of the water.

The only approach to the house was over a drawbridge, the chains and windlass of which had long been

rusted and broken. The latest tenants of the Manor House had, however, with characteristic energy, set this

right, and the drawbridge was not only capable of being raised, but actually was raised every evening and

lowered every morning. By thus renewing the cus tom of the old feudal days the Manor House was

converted into an island during the night a fact which had a very direct bearing upon the mystery which

The house had been untenanted for some years and was threat ening to moulder into a picturesque decay

when the Douglases took possession of it. This family consisted of only two individuals John Douglas and

his wife. Douglas was a re markable man, both in character and in person. In age he may have been about

fifty, with a strongjawed, rugged face, a grizzling moustache, peculiarly keen gray eyes, and a wiry, vigorous

figure which had lost nothing of the strength and activ ity of youth. He was cheery and genial to all, but

somewhat offhand in his manners, giving the impression that he had seen life in social strata on some far

Yet, though looked at with some curiosity and reserve by his more cultivated neighbours, he soon acquired a

great popularity among the villagers, subscribing handsomely to all local objects, and attending their smoking

concerts and other functions, where, having a remarkably rich tenor voice, he was always ready to oblige

with an excellent song. He appeared to have plenty of money, which was said to have been gained in the

California gold fields, and it was clear from his own talk and that of his wife that he had spent a part of his

The good impression which had been produced by his gener osity and by his democratic manners was

increased by a reputa tion gained for utter indifference to danger. Though a wretched rider, he turned out at

every meet, and took the most amazing falls in his determination to hold his own with the best. When the

vicarage caught fire he distinguished himself also by the fearlessness with which he reentered the building to

save prop erty, after the local fire brigade had given it up as impossible. Thus it came about that John

Douglas of the Manor House had within five years won himself quite a reputation in Birlstone.

His wife, too, was popular with those who had made her acquaintance; though, after the English fashion, the

callers upon a stranger who settled in the county without introductions were few and far between. This

mattered the less to her, as she was retiring by disposition, and very much absorbed, to all appear ance, in

her husband and her domestic duties. It was known that she was an English lady who had met Mr. Douglas in

London, he being at that time a widower. She was a beautiful woman, tall, dark, and slender, some twenty

years younger than her husband, a disparity which seemed in no wise to mar the content ment of their

It was remarked sometimes, however, by those who knew them best, that the confidence between the two did

not appear to be complete, since the wife was either very reticent about her husband's past life, or else, as

seemed more likely, was imper fectly informed about it. It had also been noted and commented upon by a

few observant people that there were signs sometimes of some nervestrain upon the part of Mrs. Douglas,

and that she would display acute uneasiness if her absent husband should ever be patticularly late in his

return. On a quiet countryside, where all gossip is welcome, this weakness of the lady of the Manor House

did not pass without remark, and it bulked larger upon people's memory when the events arose which gave it

There was yet another individual whose residence under that roof was, it is true, only an intermittent one, but

whose presence at the time of the strange happenings which will now be narrated brought his name

prominently before the public. This was Cecil James Barker, of Hales Lodge, Hampstead.

Cecil Barker's tall, loosejointed figure was a familiar one in the main street of Birlstone village; for he was a

frequent and welcome visitor at the Manor House. He was the more noticed as being the only friend of the

past unknown life of Mr. Douglas who was ever seen in his new English surroundings. Barker was himself an

undoubted Englishman; but by his remarks it was clear that he had first known Douglas in America and had

there lived on intimate terms with him. He appeared to be a man of considerable wealth, and was reputed to

In age he was rather younger than Douglas fortyfive at the most a tall, straight, broadchested fellow

with a cleanshaved, prizefighter face, thick, strong, black eyebrows, and a pair of masterful black eyes

which might, even without the aid of his very capable hands, clear a way for him through a hostile crowd. He

neither rode nor shot, but spent his days in wandering round the old village with his pipe in his mouth, or in

driving with his host, or in his absence with his hostess, over the beautiful countryside. "An easygoing,

freehanded gentleman," said Ames, the butler. "But, my word! I had rather not be the man that crossed

him!" He was cordial and intimate with Douglas, and he was no less friendly with his wife a friendship

which more than once seemed to cause some irritation to the husband, so that even the servants were able to

perceive his annoyance. Such was the third person who was one of the family when the catastrophe occurred.

As to the other denizens of the old building, it will suffice out of a large household to mention the prim,

respectable, and capable Ames, and Mrs. Allen, a buxom and cheerful person, who relieved the lady of some

of her household cares. The other six servants in the house bear no relation to the events of the night of

It was at eleven fortyfive that the first alarm reached the small local police station, in charge of Sergeant

Wilson of the Sussex Constabulary. Cecil Barker, much excited, had rushed up to the door and pealed

furiously upon the bell. A terrible tragedy had occurred at the Manor House, and John Douglas had been

mur dered. That was the breathless burden of his message. He had hurried back to the house, followed

within a few minutes by the police sergeant, who arrived at the scene of the crime a little after twelve o'clock,

after taking prompt steps to warn the county authorities that something serious was afoot.

On reaching the Manor House, the sergeant had found the drawbridge down, the windows lighted up, and the

whole house hold in a state of wild confusion and alarm. The whitefaced servants were huddling together

in the hall, with the frightened butler wringing his hands in the doorway. Only Cecil Barker seemed to be

master of himself and his emotions; he had opened the door which was nearest to the entrance and he had

beckoned to the sergeant to follow him. At that moment there arrived Dr. Wood, a brisk and capable general

practitioner from the village. The three men entered the fatal room together, while the horror stricken butler

followed at their heels, closing the door behind him to shut out the terrible scene from the maid servants.

The dead man lay on his back, sprawling with outstretched limbs in the centre of the room. He was clad only

in a pink dressing gown, which covered his night clothes. There were carpet slippers on his bare feet. The

doctor knelt beside him and held down the hand lamp which had stood on the table. One glance at the victim

was enough to show the healer that his presence could be dispensed with. The man had been horribly injured.

Lying across his chest was a curious weapon, a shotgun with the batrel sawed off a foot in front of the

triggers. It was clear that this had been fired at close range and that he had received the whole charge in the

face, blowing his head almost to pieces. The triggers had been wired together, so as to make the simultaneous

The country policeman was unnerved and troubled by the tremendous responsibility which had come so

suddenly upon him. "We will touch nothing until my superiors arrive," he said in a hushed voice, staring in

"Nothing has been touched up to now," said Cecil Barker. "I'll answer for that. You see it all exactly as I

"It was just halfpast eleven. I had not begun to undress, and I was sitting by the fire in my bedroom when I

heard the report. It was not very loud it seemed to be muffled. I rushed down I don't suppose it was

"Yes, it was open. Poor Douglas was lying as you see him. His bedroom candle was burning on the table. It

"No. I heard Mrs. Douglas coming down the stair behind me, and I rushed out to prevent her from seeing this

dreadful sight. Mrs. Allen, the housekeeper, came and took her away. Ames had arrived, and we ran back into

"Then how could any murderer have got away? It is out of the question! Mr. Douglas must have shot

"That was our first idea. But see!" Barker drew aside the curtain, and showed that the long, diamondpaned

window was open to its full extent. "And look at this!" He held the lamp down and illuminated a smudge of

blood like the mark of a bootsole upn the wooden sill. "Someone has stood there in getting out."

"Then if you were in the room within half a minute of the crime, he must have been in the water at that very

"I have not a doubt of it. I wish to heaven that I had rushed to the window! But the curtain screened it, as you

can see, and so it never occurred to me. Then I heard the step of Mrs. Douglas, and I could not let her enter

"Horrible enough!" said the doctor, looking at the shattered head and the terrible marks which surrounded it.

"But, I say," remarked the police sergeant, whose slow, bucolic common sense was still pondering the open

window. "It's all very well your saying that a man escaped by wading this moat, but what I ask you is, how

"I've heard," said the sergeant, "that it was usually raised at sunset. That would be nearer halfpast four than

"Mrs. Douglas had visitors to tea," said Ames. "I couldn't raise it until they went. Then I wound it up myself."

"Then it comes to this," said the sergeant: "If anyone came from outside if they did they must have got

in across the bridge before six and been in hiding ever since, until Mr. Douglas came into the room after

"That is so! Mr. Douglas went round the house every night the last thing before he turned in to see that the

lights were right. That brought him in here. The man was waiting and shot him. Then he got away through

the window and left his gun behind him. That's how I read it; for nothing else will fit the facts."

The sergeant picked up a card which lay beside the dead man on the floor. The initials V. V. and under them

Barker looked at it with curiosity. "I never noticed it before," he said. "The murderer must have left it behind

The sergeant kept turning it over in his big fingers. "What's V. V.? Somebody's initials, maybe. What have

It was a goodsized hammer which had been lying on the rug in front of the fireplace a substantial,

workmanlike hammer. Cecil Barker pointed to a box of brassheaded nails upon the mantelpiece.

"Mr. Douglas was altering the pictures yesterday," he said. "I saw him myself, standing upon that chair and

"We'd best put it back on the rug where we found it," said the sergeant, scratching his puzzled head in his

perplexity. "It will want the best brains in the force to get to the bottom of this thing. It will be a London job

before it is finished." He raised the hand lamp and walked slowly round the room. "Hullo!" he cried,

excitedly, drawing the window curtain to one side. "What o'clock were those curtains drawn?"

"Someone had been hiding here, sure enough." He held down the light, and the marks of muddy boots were

very visible in the corner. "I'm bound to say this bears out your theory, Mr. Barker. It looks as if the man got

into the house after four when the curtains were drawn and before six when the bridge was raised. He slipped

into this room, because it was the first that he saw. There was no other place where he could hide, so he

popped in behind this curtain. That all seems clear enough. It is likely that his main idea was to burgle the

house; but Mr. Douglas chanced to come upon him, so he murdered him and escaped."

"That's how I read it," said Barker. "But, I say, aren't we wasting precious time? Couldn't we start out and

"There are no trains before six in the morning; so he can't get away by rail. If he goes by road with his legs all

dripping, it's odds that someone will notice him. Anyhow, I can't leave here myself until I am relieved. But I

The doctor had taken the lamp and was narrowly scrutinizing the body. "What's this mark?" he asked. "Could

The dead man's right arm was thrust out from his dressing gown, and exposed as high as the elbow. About

halfway up the forearm was a curious brown design, a triangle inside a circle, standing out in vivid relief

"It's not tattooed," said the doctor, peering through his glasses. "I never saw anything like it. The man has

"I don't profess to know the meaning of it," said Cecil Barker; "but I have seen the mark on Douglas many

"And so have I," said the butler. "Many a time when the master has rolled up his sleeves I have noticed that

"Then it has nothing to do with the crime, anyhow," said the sergeant. "But it's a rum thing all the same.

The butler had given an exclamation of astonishment and was pointing at the dead man's outstretched hand.

"Yes, indeed. Master always wore his plain gold wedding ring on the little finger of his left hand. That ring

with the rough nugget on it was above it, and the twisted snake ring on the third finger. There's the nugget

"Do you tell me," said the sergeant, "that the wedding ring was below the other?"

"Then the murderer, or whoever it was, first took off this ring you call the nugget ring, then the wedding ring,

The worthy country policeman shook his head. "Seems to me the sooner we get London on to this case the

better," said he. "White Mason is a smart man. No local job has ever been too much for White Mason. It

won't be long now before he is here to help us. But I expect we'll have to look to London before we are

through. Anyhow, I'm not ashamed to say that it is a deal too thick for the likes of me."

At three in the morning the chief Sussex detective, obeying the urgent call from Sergeant Wilson of Birlstone,

arrived from headquarters in a light dogcart behind a breathless trotter. By the fiveforty train in the

morning he had sent his message to Scotland Yard, and he was at the Birlstone station at twelve o'clock to

welcome us. White Mason was a quiet, comfortable looking person in a loose tweed suit, with a

cleanshaved, ruddy face, a stoutish body, and powerful bandy legs adorned with gaiters, looking like a small

farmer, a retired gamekeeper, or anything upon earth except a very favourable specimen of the provincial

"A real downright snorter, Mr. MacDonald!" he kept repeat ing. "We'll have the pressmen down like flies

when they under stand it. I'm hoping we will get our work done before they get poking their noses into it

and messing up all the trails. There has been nothing like this that I can remember. There are some bits that

will come home to you, Mr. Holmes, or I am mistaken. And you also, Dr. Watson; for the medicos will have

a word to say before we finish. Your room is at the Westville Arms. There's no other place; but I hear that it

is clean and good. The man will carry your bags. This way, gentlemen, if you please."

He was a very bustling and genial person, this Sussex detec tive. In ten minutes we had all found our

quarters. In ten more we were seated in the parlour of the inn and being treated to a rapid sketch of those

events which have been outlined in the previous chapter. MacDonald made an occasional note, while Holmes

sat absorbed, with the expression of surprised and rever ent admiration with which the botanist surveys the

"Remarkable!" he said, when the story was unfolded, "most remarkable! I can hardly recall any case where

"I thought you would say so, Mr. Holmes," said White Mason in great delight. "We're well up with the times

in Sussex. I've told you now how matters were, up to the time when I took over from Sergeant Wilson

between three and four this morning. My word! I made the old mare go! But I need not have been in such a

hurry, as it turned out; for there was nothing immediate that I could do. Sergeant Wilson had all the facts. I

"Well, I first had the hammer examined. There was Dr. Wood there to help me. We found no signs of

violence upon it. I was hoping that if Mr. Douglas defended himself with the ham mer, he might have left

his mark upon the murderer before he dropped it on the mat. But there was no stain."

"That, of course, proves nothing at all," remarked Inspector MacDonald. "There has been many a hammer

"Quite so. It doesn't prove it wasn't used. But there might have been stains, and that would have helped us. As

a matter of fact there were none. Then I examined the gun. They were buckshot cartridges, and, as Sergeant

Wilson pointed out, the triggers were wired together so that, if you pulled on the hinder one, both barrels

were discharged. Whoever fixed that up had made up his mind that he was going to take no chances of

missing his man. The sawed gun was not more than two foot long one could carry it easily under one's

coat. There was no complete maker's name; but the printed letters PEN were on the fluting between the

White Mason gazed at my friend as the little village practi tioner looks at the Harley Street specialist who

"That is very helpful, Mr. Holmes. No doubt you are right. Wonderful! Wonderful! Do you carry the names

"No doubt it is an American shotgun," White Mason contin ued. "I seem to have read that a sawedoff

shotgun is a weapon used in some parts of America. Apart from the name upon the barrel, the idea had

occurred to me. There is some evidence then, that this man who entered the house and killed its master was

MacDonald shook his head. "Man, you are surely travelling overfast," said he. "I have heard no evidence yet

"The open window, the blood on the sill, the queer card, the marks of boots in the corner, the gun!"

"Nothing there that could not have been arranged. Mr. Doug las was an American, or had lived long in

America. So had Mr. Barker. You don't need to import an American from outside in order to account for

"Ten years with Sir Charles Chandos as solid as a rock. He has been with Douglas ever since he took the

"The gun was made to conceal. That's why the barrels were sawed. It would fit into any box. How could he

MacDonald shook his obstinate Scotch head. "I'm not con vinced yet that there was ever anyone in the

house," said he. "I'm asking you to conseedar" (his accent became more Aberdonian as he lost himself in his

argument) "I'm asking you to conseedar what it involves if you suppose that this gun was ever brought into

the house, and that all these strange things were done by a person from outside. Oh, man, it's just incon

ceivable! It's clean against common sense! I put it to you, Mr. Holmes, judging it by what we have heard."

"The man is not a burglar, supposing that he ever existed. The ring business and the card point to

premeditated murder for some private reason. Very good. Here is a man who slips into a house with the

deliberate intention of committing murder. He knows, if he knows anything, that he will have a deeficulty in

making his escape, as the house is surrounded with water. What weapon would he choose? You would say

the most silent in the world. Then he could hope when the deed was done to slip quickly from the window, to

wade the moat, and to get away at his leisure. That's understandable. But is it understandable that he should

go out of his way to bring with him the most noisy weapon he could select, knowing well that it will fetch

every human being in the house to the spot as quick as they can run, and that it is all odds that he will be seen

"Well, you put the case strongly," my friend replied thought fully. "It certainly needs a good deal of

justification. May I ask, Mr. White Mason, whether you examined the farther side of the moat at once to see

"There were no signs, Mr. Holmes. But it is a stone ledge, and one could hardly expect them."

"Ha! Would there be any objection, Mr. White Mason, to our going down to the house at once? There may

"I was going to propose it, Mr. Holmes; but I thought it well to put you in touch with all the facts before we

go. I suppose if anything should strike you " White Mason looked doubtfully at the amateur.

"I have worked with Mr. Holmes before," said Inspector MacDonald. "He plays the game."

"My own idea of the game, at any rate," said Holmes, with a smile. "I go into a case to help the ends of

justice and the work of the police. If I have ever separated myself from the official force, it is because they

have first separated themselves from me. I have no wish ever to score at their expense. At the same time, Mr.

White Mason, I claim the right to work in my own way and give my results at my own time complete

"I am sure we are honoured by your presence and to show you all we know," said White Mason cordially.

"Come along, Dr. Watson, and when the time comes we'll all hope for a place in your book."

We walked down the quaint village street with a row of pollarded elms on each side of it. Just beyond were

two ancient stone pillars, weatherstained and lichenblotched bearing upon their summits a shapeless

something which had once been the rampant lion of Capus of Birlstone. A short walk along the winding drive

with such sward and oaks around it as one only sees in rural England, then a sudden turn, and the long, low

Jacobean house of dingy, livercoloured brick lay before us, with an oldfashioned garden of cut yews on

each side of it. As we approached it, there was the wooden drawbridge and the beauti ful broad moat as still

Three centuries had flowed past the old Manor House, centu ries of births and of homecomings, of country

dances and of the meetings of fox hunters. Strange that now in its old age this dark business should have cast

its shadow upon the venerable walls! And yet those strange, peaked roofs and quaint, overhung gables were a

fitting covering to grim and terrible intrigue. As I looked at the deepset windows and the long sweep of the

dullcoloured, waterlapped front, I felt that no more fitting scene could be set for such a tragedy.

"That's the window," said White Mason, "that one on the immediate right of the drawbridge. It's open just as

"Well, it wasn't a fat man, anyhow. We don't need your deductions, Mr. Holmes, to tell us that. But you or I

Holmes walked to the edge of the moat and looked across. Then he examined the stone ledge and the grass

"I've had a good look, Mr. Holmes," said White Mason. "There is nothing there, no sign that anyone has

We walked across the drawbridge, and were admitted by a quaint, gnarled, driedup person, who was the

butler, Ames. The poor old fellow was white and quivering from the shock. The village sergeant, a tall,

formal, melancholy man, still held his vigil in the room of Fate. The doctor had departed.

"Then you can go home. You've had enough. We can send for you if we want you. The butler had better wait

outside. Tell him to warn Mr. Cecil Barker, Mrs. Douglas, and the house keeper that we may want a word

with them presently. Now, gentlemen, perhaps you will allow me to give you the views I have formed first,

He impressed me, this country specialist. He had a solid grip of fact and a cool, clear, commonsense brain,

which should take him some way in his profession. Holmes listened to him intently, with no sign of that

"Is it suicide, or is it murder that's our first question, gentle men, is it not? If it were suicide, then we

have to believe that this man began by taking off his wedding ring and concealing it; that he then came down

here in his dressing gown, trampled mud into a corner behind the curtain in order to give the idea someone

"So I think. Suicide is out of the question. Then a murder has been done. What we have to determine is,

"There are considerable difficulties both ways, and yet one or the other it must be. We will suppose first that

some person or persons inside the house did the crime. They got this man down here at a time when

everything was still and yet no one was asleep. They then did the deed with the queerest and noisiest weapon

in the world so as to tell everyone what had happened a weapon that was never seen in the house before.

"Well, then, everyone is agreed that after the alarm was given only a minute at the most had passed before the

whole household not Mr. Cecil Barker alone, though he claims to have been the first, but Ames and all of

them were on the spot. Do you tell me that in that time the guilty person managed to make footmarks in the

corner, open the window, mark the sill with blood. take the wedding nng off the dead man's finger, and all the

"Well, then, we are driven back to the theory that it was done by someone from outside. We are still faced

with some big difficulties; but anyhow they have ceased to be impossibilities. The man got into the house

between fourthirty and six; that is to say, between dusk and the time when the bridge was raised. There had

been some visitors, and the door was open; so there was nothing to prevent him. He may have been a

common burglar, or he may have had some private grudge against Mr. Douglas. Since Mr. Douglas has spent

most of his life in Amer ica, and this shotgun seems to be an American weapon, it would seem that the

private grudge is the more likely theory. He slipped into this room because it was the first he came to, and he

hid behind the curtain. There he remained until past eleven at night. At that time Mr. Douglas entered the

room. It was a short interview, if there were any interview at all; for Mrs. Douglas declares that her husband

"Exactly. The candle, which was a new one, is not burned more than half an inch. He must have placed it on

the table before he was attacked; otherwise, of course, it would have fallen when he fell. This shows that he

was not attacked the instant that he entered the room. When Mr. Barker arrived the candle was lit and the

"Well, now, we can reconstruct things on those lines. Mr. Douglas enters the room. He puts down the candle.

A man appears from behind the curtain. He is armed with this gun. He demands the wedding ring Heaven

only knows why, but so it must have been. Mr. Douglas gave it up. Then either in cold blood or in the course

of a struggle Douglas may have gripped the hammer that was found upon the mat he shot Douglas in

this horrible way. He dropped his gun and also it would seem this queer card V. V. 341, whatever that

may mean and he made his escape through the window and across the moat at the very moment when

"Man, it would be absolute nonsense if it wasn't that anything else is even worse!" cried MacDonald.

"Somebody killed the man, and whoever it was I could clearly prove to you that he should have done it some

other way. What does he mean by allowing his retreat to be cut off like that? What does he mean by using a

shotgun when silence was his one chance of escape? Come, Mr. Holmes, it's up to you to give us a lead, since

Holmes had sat intently observant during this long discussion, missing no word that was said, with his keen

"I should like a few more facts before I get so far as a theory, Mr. Mac," said he, kneeling down beside the

body. "Dear me! these injuries are really appalling. Can we have the butler in for a moment? . . . Ames, I

understand that you have often seen this very unusual mark a branded triangle inside a circle upon Mr.

"It must have caused great pain when it was inflicted. It is undoubtedly a burn. Now, I observe, Ames, that

there is a small piece of plaster at the angle of Mr. Douglas's jaw. Did you observe that in life?"

"Suggestive!" said Holmes. "It may, of course, be a mere coincidence, or it may point to some nervousness

which would indicate that he had reason to apprehend danger. Had you no ticed anything unusual in his

"Ha! The attack may not have been entirely unexpected. We do seem to make a little progress, do we not?

"Well, then, we will pass to this card V. V. 341. It is rough cardboard. Have you any of the sort in the

Holmes walked across to the desk and dabbed a little ink from each bottle on to the blotting paper. "It was not

printed in this room," he said; "this is black ink and the other purplish. It was done by a thick pen, and these

are fine. No, it was done elsewhere, I should say. Can you make anything of the inscrip tion, Ames?"

"It gives me the impression of a secret society of some sort; the same with his badge upon the forearm."

"Well, we can adopt it as a working hypothesis and then see how far our difficulties disappear. An agent from

such a society makes his way into the house, waits for Mr. Douglas, blows his head nearly off with this

weapon, and escapes by wading the moat, after leaving a card beside the dead man, which will when

mentioned in the papers, tell other members of the society that vengeance has been done. That all hangs

"And why no arrest? It's past two now. I take it for granted that since dawn every constable within forty miles

"Well, unless he has a burrow close by or a change of clothes ready, they can hardly miss him. And yet they

have missed him up to now!" Holmes had gone to the window and was examining with his lens the blood

mark on the sill. "It is clearly the tread of a shoe. It is remarkably broad; a splayfoot, one would say.

Curious, because, so far as one can trace any footmark in this mudstained corner, one would say it was a

more shapely sole. However, they are certainly very indistinct. What's this under the side table?"

"I don't know, Mr. Holmes. There may have been only one. I have not noticed them for months."

"One dumbbell " Holmes said seriously; but his remarks were interrupted by a sharp knock at the door.

A tall, sunburned, capablelooking, cleanshaved man looked in at us. I had no difficulty in guessing that it

was the Cecil Barker of whom I had heard. His masterful eyes travelled quickly with a questioning glance

"Sorry to interrupt your consultation," said he, "but you should hear the latest news."

"No such luck. But they've found his bicycle. The fellow left his bicycle behind him. Come and have a look.

We found three or four grooms and idlers standing in the drive inspecting a bicycle which had been drawn

out from a clump of evergreens in which it had been concealed. It was a well used RudgeWhitworth,

splashed as from a considerable journey. There was a saddlebag with spanner and oilcan, but no clue as to the

"It would be a grand help to the police," said the inspector, "if these things were numbered and registered.

But we must be thankful for what we've got. If we can't find where he went to, at least we are likely to get

where he came from. But what in the name of all that is wonderful made the fellow leave it behind? And how

in the world has he got away without it? We don't seem to get a gleam of light in the case, Mr. Holmes."

"Have you seen all you want of the study?" asked White Mason as we reentered the house.

"Then perhaps you would now like to hear the evidence of some of the people in the house. We could use the

The butler's account was a simple and a clear one, and he gave a convincing impression of sincerity. He had

been engaged five years before, when Douglas first came to Birlstone. He understood that Mr. Douglas was a

rich gentleman who had made his money in America. He had been a kind and considerate employer not

quite what Ames was used to, perhaps; but one can't have everything. He never saw any signs of

apprehension in Mr. Douglas: on the contrary, he was the most fearless man he had ever known. He ordered

the drawbridge to be pulled up every night because it was the ancient custom of the old house, and he liked to

Mr. Douglas seldom went to London or left the village; but on the day before the crime he had been shopping

at Tunbridge Wells. He (Ames) had observed some restlessness and excite ment on the part of Mr. Douglas

that day; for he had seemed impatient and irritable, which was unusual with him. He had not gone to bed that

night; but was in the pantry at the back of the house, putting away the silver, when he heard the bell ring

violently. He heard no shot; but it was hardly possible he would, as the pantry and kitchens were at the very

back of the house and there were several closed doors and a long passage between. The housekeeper had

come out of her room, attracted by the violent ringing of the bell. They had gone to the front of the house

As they reached the bottom of the stair he had seen Mrs. Douglas coming down it. No, she was not hurrying;

it did not seem to him that she was particularly agitated. Just as she reached the bottom of the stair Mr. Barker

had rushed out of the study. He had stopped Mrs. Douglas and begged her to go back.

"For God's sake, go back to your room!" he cried. "Poor Jack is dead! You can do nothing. For God's sake, go

After some persuasion upon the stairs Mrs. Douglas had gone back. She did not scream. She made no outcry

whatever. Mrs. Allen, the housekeeper, had taken her upstairs and stayed with her in the bedroom. Ames and

Mr. Barker had then returned to the study, where they had found everything exactly as the police had seen it.

The candle was not lit at that time; but the lamp was burning. They had looked out of the window; but the

night was very dark and nothing could be seen or heard. They had then rushed out into the hall, where Ames

had turned the windlass which lowered the drawbridge. Mr. Barker had then hurried off to get the police.

The account of Mrs. Allen, the housekeeper, was, so far as it went, a corroboration of that of her fellow

servant. The house keeper's room was rather nearer to the front of the house than the pantry in which Ames

had been working. She was preparing to go to bed when the loud ringing of the bell had attracted her

attention. She was a little hard of hearing. Perhaps that was why she had not heard the shot; but in any case

the study was a long way off. She remembered hearing some sound which she imag ined to be the slamming

of a door. That was a good deal earlier half an hour at least before the ringing of the bell. When Mr. Ames

ran to the front she went with him. She saw Mr. Barker, very pale and excited, come out of the study. He

inter cepted Mrs. Douglas, who was coming down the stairs. He entreated her to go back, and she answered

She had therefore taken her to the bedroom, and endeavoured to soothe her. She was greatly excited,

trembling all over, but made no other attempt to go downstairs. She just sat in her dressing gown by her

bedroom fire, with her head sunk in her hands. Mrs. Allen stayed with her most of the night. As to the other

servants, they had all gone to bed, and the alarm did not reach them until just before the police arrived. They

slept at the extreme back of the house, and could not possibly have heard anything.

So far the housekeeper could add nothing on crossexamination save lamentations and expressions of

Cecil Barker succeeded Mrs. Allen as a witness. As to the occurrences of the night before, he had very little

to add to what he had already told the police. Personally, he was convinced that the murderer had escaped by

the window. The bloodstain was conclusive, in his opinion, on that point. Besides, as the bridge was up, there

was no other possible way of escaping. He could not explain what had become of the assassin or why he had

not taken his bicycle, if it were indeed his. He could not possibly have been drowned in the moat, which was

In his own mind he had a very definite theory about the murder. Douglas was a reticent man, and there were

some chapters in his life of which he never spoke. He had emigrated to America when he was a very young

man. He had prospered well, and Barker had first met him in California, where they had become partners in a

successful mining claim at a place called Benito Canon. They had done very well; but Douglas had suddenly

sold out and started for England. He was a widower at that time. Barker had afterwards realized his money

Douglas had given him the impression that some danger was hanging over his head, and he had always

looked upon his sudden departure from California, and also his renting a house in so quiet a place in England,

as being connected with this peril. He imagined that some secret society, some implacable organiza tion,

was on Douglas's track, which would never rest until it killed him. Some remarks of his had given him this

idea; though he had never told him what the society was, nor how he had come to offend it. He could only

suppose that the legend upon the placard had some reference to this secret society.

"No, I remember his saying that she was of German extrac tion, and I have seen her portrait. She was a very

"I have heard him talk of Chicago. He knew that city well and had worked there. I have heard him talk of the

"He liked best to stay and to work at our claim in the mountains. He would never go where other men were if

he could help it. That's why I first thought that someone was after him. Then when he left so suddenly for

Europe I made sure that it was so. I believe that he had a warning of some sort. Within a week of his leaving

"Well, they were a mighty hardlooking crowd. They came up to the claim and wanted to know where he

was. I told them that he was gone to Europe and that I did not know where to find him. They meant him no

"Well, I don't know about Californians. They were Ameri cans, all right. But they were not miners. I don't

"And then you were together five years in California, so that this business dates back not less than eleven

"It must be a very serious feud that would be kept up with such earnestness for as long as that. It would be no

"But if a man had a danger hanging over him, and knew what it was, don't you think he would turn to the

"Maybe it was some danger that he could not be protected against. There's one thing you should know. He

always went about armed. His revolver was never out of his pocket. But, by bad luck, he was in his dressing

gown and had left it in the bedroom last night. Once the bridge was up, I guess he thought he was safe."

"I should like these dates a little clearer," said MacDonald. "It is quite six years since Douglas left California.

"And he had been married five years. You must have returned about the time of his marriage."

Barker looked sternly at the detective. "I have seen a good deal of him since," he answered. "If I have seen

her, it is because you cannot visit a man without knowing his wife. If you imagine there is any connection

"I imagine nothing, Mr. Barker. I am bound to make every inquiry which can bear upon the case. But I mean

"It's only the facts that we want. It is in your interest and everyone's interest that they should be cleared up.

Barker grew paler, and his great, strong hands were clasped convulsively together. "You have no right to ask

such ques tions!" he cried. "What has this to do with the matter you are investigating?"

"You can refuse to answer; but you must be aware that your refusal is in itself an answer, for you would not

Barker stood for a moment with his face set grimly and his strong black eyebrows drawn low in intense

thought. Then he looked up with a smile. "Well, I guess you gentlemen are only doing your clear duty after

all, and I have no right to stand in the way of it. I'd only ask you not to worry Mrs. Douglas over this matter;

for she has enough upon her just now. I may tell you that poor Douglas had just one fault in the world, and

that was his jealousy. He was fond of me no man could be fonder of a friend. And he was devoted to his

wife. He loved me to come here, and was forever sending for me. And yet if his wife and I talked together or

there seemed any sympathy between us, a kind of wave of jealousy would pass over him, and he would be off

the handle and saying the wildest things in a moment. More than once I've sworn off coming for that reason,

and then he would write me such penitent, imploring letters that I just had to. But you can take it from me,

gentlemen, if it was my last word, that no man ever had a more loving, faithful wife and I can say also no

It was spoken with fervour and feeling, and yet Inspector MacDonald could not dismiss the subject.

"You are aware," said he, "that the dead man's wedding ring has been taken from his finger?"

The man seemed confused and undecided . "When I said 'appears' I meant that it was conceivable that he had

"The mere fact that the ring should be absent, whoever may have removed it, would suggest to anyone's

Barker shrugged his broad shoulders. "I can't profess to say what it means." he answered. "But if you mean to

hint that it could reflect in any way upon this lady's honour" his eyes blazed for an instant, and then with

an evident effort he got a grip upon his own emotions "well, you are on the wrong track. that's all."

"I don't know that I've anything else to ask you at present," said MacDonald, coldly.

"There was one small point," remarked Sherlock Holmes. "When you entered the room there was only a

"And yet when they arrived they found that the candle was out and that the lamp had been lighted. That

Again Barker showed some signs of indecision. "I don't see that it was remarkable, Mr. Holmes," he

answered after a pause. "The candle threw a very bad light. My first thought was to get a better one. The lamp

Holmes asked no further question, and Barker, with a deliber ate look from one to the other of us, which

Inspector MacDonald had sent up a note to the effect that he would wait upon Mrs. Douglas in her room; but

she had replied that she would meet us in the dining room. She entered now, a tall and beautiful woman of

thirty, reserved and selfpossessed to a remarkable degree, very different from the tragic and distracted figure

I had pictured. It is true that her face was pale and drawn, like that of one who has endured a great shock; but

her manner was composed, and the finely moulded hand which she rested upon the edge of the table was as

steady as my own. Her sad, appealing eyes travelled from one to the other of us with a curiously inquisitive

expression. That questioning gaze trans formed itself suddenly into abrupt speech.

Was it my imagination that there was an undertone of fear rather than of hope in the question?

"We have taken every possible step, Mrs. Douglas," said the inspector. "You may rest assured that nothing

"Spare no money," she said in a dead, even tone. "It is my desire that every possible effort should be made."

"We have heard from Mr. Cecil Barker that you did not actually see that you were never in the room

"How long was it after hearing the shot that you were stopped on the stair by Mr. Barker?"

"It may have been a couple of minutes. It is so hard to reckon time at such a moment. He implored me not to

go on. He assured me that I could do nothing. Then Mrs. Allen, the housekeeper, led me upstairs again. It was

"Can you give us any idea how long your husband had been downstairs before you heard the shot?"

"No, I cannot say. He went from his dressing room, and I did not hear him go. He did the round of the house

every night, for he was nervous of fire. It is the only thing that I have ever known him nervous of."

"That is just the point which I want to come to, Mrs. Doug las. You have known your husband only in

"Have you heard him speak of anything which occurred in America and might bring some danger upon him?"

Mrs. Douglas thought earnestly before she answered. "Yes." she said at last, "I have always felt that there was

a danger hanging over him. He refused to discuss it with me. It was not from want of confidence in me

there was the most complete love and confidence betwecn us but it was out of his desire to keep all alarm

away from me. He thought I should brood over it if I knew all, and so he was silent."

Mrs. Douglas's face lit with a quick smile. "Can a husband ever carry about a secret all his life and a woman

who loves him have no suspicion of it? I knew it by his refusal to talk about some episodes in his American

life. I knew it by certain precau tions he took. I knew it by certain words he let fall. I knew it by the way he

looked at unexpected strangers. I was perfectly certain that he had some powerful enemies, that he believed

they were on his track, and that he was always on his guard against them. I was so sure of it that for years I

"Might I ask," asked Holmes, "what the words were which attracted your attention?"

"The Valley of Fear," the lady answered. "That was an expression he has used when I questioned him. 'I have

been in the Valley of Fear. I am not out of it yet.' 'Are we never to get out of the Valley of Fear?' I have

asked him when I have seen him more serious than usual. 'Sometimes I think that we never shall,' he has

"I did; but his face would become very grave and he would shake his head. 'It is bad enough that one of us

should have been in its shadow,' he said. 'Please God it shall never fall upon you!' It was some real valley in

which he had lived and in which something terrible had occurred to him, of that I am certain; but I can tell

"Yes, he was delirious with fever once when he had his hunting accident three years ago. Then I remember

that there was a name that came continually to his lips. He spoke it with anger and a sort of horror. McGinty

was the name Bodymaster McGinty. I asked him when he recovered who Bodymaster McGinty was, and

whose body he was master of. 'Never of mine, thank God!' he answered with a laugh, and that was all I could

get from him. But there is a connection between Bodymaster McGinty and the Valley of Fear."

"There is one other point," said Inspector MacDonald. "You met Mr. Douglas in a boarding house in London,

did you not, and became engaged to him there? Was there any romance, anything secret or mysterious, about

"You have heard, no doubt, that his wedding ring has been taken. Does that suggest anything to you?

Suppose that some enemy of his old life had tracked him down and committed this crime, what possible

For an instant I could have sworn that the faintest shadow of a smile flickered over the woman's lips.

"I really cannot tell," she answered. "It is certainly a most extraordinary thing."

"Well, we will not detain you any longer, and we are sorry to have put you to this trouble at such a time," said

the inspector. "There are some other points, no doubt; but we can refer to you as they arise."

She rose, and I was again conscious of that quick, questioning glance with which she had just surveyed us.

"What impression has my evidence made upon you?" The question might as well have been spoken. Then,

"She's a beautiful woman a very beautiful woman," said MacDonald thoughtfully, after the door had

closed behind her. "This man Barker has certainly been down here a good deal. He is a man who might be

attractive to a woman. He admits that the dead man was jealous, and maybe he knew best himself what cause

he had for jealousy. Then there's that wedding ring. You can't get past that. The man who tears a wedding

My friend had sat with his head upon his hands, sunk in the deepest thought. Now he rose and rang the bell.

"Can you remember, Ames, what Mr. Barker had on his feet last night when you joined him in the study?"

"Yes, Mr. Holmes. He had a pair of bedroom slippers. I brought him his boots when he went for the police."

"Very good, Ames. It is, of course, important for us to know which tracks may be Mr. Barker's and which

"Yes, sir. I may say that I noticed that the slippers were stained with blood so indeed were my own."

"That is natural enough, considering the condition of the room. Very good, Ames. We will ring if we want

A few minutes later we were in the study. Holmes had brought with him the carpet slippers from the hall. As

"Strange!" murmured Holmes, as he stood in the light of the window and examined them minutely. "Very

Stooping with one of his quick feline pounces, he placed the slipper upon the blood mark on the sill. It

The inspector was transfigured with excitement. His native accent rattled like a stick upon railings.

"Man," he cried, "there's not a doubt of it! Barker has just marked the window himself. It's a good deal

broader than any bootmark. I mind that you said it was a splayfoot, and here's the explanation. But what's

White Mason chuckled aind rubbed his fat hands together in his professional satisfaction. "I said it was a

The three detectives had many matters of detail into which to inquire; so I returned alone to our modest

quarters at the village inn. But before doing so I took a stroll in the curious oldworld garden which flanked

the house. Rows of very ancient yew trees cut into strange designs girded it round. Inside was a beautiful

stretch of lawn with an old sundial in the middle, the whole effect so soothing and restful that it was welcome

In that deeply peaceful atmosphere one could forget, or re member only as some fantastic nightmare, that

darkened study with the sprawling, bloodstained figure on the floor. And yet, as I strolled round it and tried to

steep my soul in its gentle balm, a strange incident occurred, which brought me back to the tragedy and left a

I have said that a decoration of yew trees circled the garden. At the end farthest from the house they

thickened into a continu ous hedge. On the other side of this hedge, concealed from the eyes of anyone

approaching from the direction of the house, there was a stone seat. As I approached the spot I was aware of

voices, some remark in the deep tones of a man, answered by a little ripple of feminine laughter.

An instant later I had come round the end of the hedge and my eyes lit upon Mrs. Douglas and the man

Barker before they were aware of my presence. Her appearance gave me a shock. In the diningroom she had

been demure and discreet. Now all pretense of grief had passed away from her. Her eyes shone with the joy

of living, and her face still quivered with amusement at some remark of her companion. He sat forward, his

hands clasped and his forearms on his knees, with an answering smile upon his bold, handsome face. In an

instant but it was just one instant too late they resumed their solemn masks as my figure came into

view. A hurried word or two passed between them, and then Barker rose and came towards me.

I bowed with a coldness which showed, I dare say, very plainly the impression which had been produced

"We thought that it was probably you, as your friendship with Mr. Sherlock Holmes is so well known. Would

I followed him with a dour face. Very clearly I could see in my mind's eye that shattered figure on the floor.

Here within a few hours of the tragedy were his wife and his nearest friend laughing together behind a bush

in the garden which had been his. I greeted the lady with reserve. I had grieved with her grief in the

"There is no need why Dr. Watson should realize," said Barker quickly. "As he has himself said, it is no

"One moment, Dr. Watson," cried the woman in a pleading voice. "There is one question which you can

answer with more authority than anyone else in the world, and it may make a very great difference to me.

You know Mr. Holmes and his relations with the police better than anyone else can. Supposing that a matter

were brought confidentially to his knowledge, is it abso lutely necessary that he should pass it on to the

"Yes, that's it," said Barker eagerly. "Is he on his own or is he entirely in with them?"

"I beg I implore that you will, Dr. Watson! I assure you that you will be helping us helping me greatly

There was such a ring of sincerity in the woman's voice that for the instant I forgot all about her levity and

"Mr. Holmes is an independent investigator," I said. "He is his own master, and would act as his own

judgment directed. At the same time, he would naturally feel loyalty towards the officials who were working

on the same case, and he would not conceal from them anything which would help them in bringing a

criminal to justice. Beyond this I can say nothing, and I would refer you to Mr. Holmes himself if you wanted

So saying I raised my hat and went upon my way, leaving them still seated behind that concealing hedge. I

looked back as I rounded the far end of it, and saw that they were still talking very earnestly together, and, as

they were gazing after me, it was clear that it was our interview that was the subject of their debate.

"I wish none of their confidences," said Holmes, when I reported to him what had occurred. He had spent the

whole afternoon at the Manor House in consultation with his two colleagues, and returned about five with a

ravenous appetite for a high tea which I had ordered for him. "No confidences, Watson; for they are mighty

He was in his most cheerful and debonair humour. "My dear Watson, when I have exterminated that fourth

egg I shall be ready to put you in touch with the whole situation. I don't say that we have fathomed it far

"Dear me, Watson, is it possible that you have not penetrated the fact that the case hangs upon the missing

dumbbell? Well, well, you need not be downcast; for between ourselves I don't think that either Inspector

Mac or the excellent local practitioner has grasped the overwhelming importance of this incident. One

dumbbell, Watson! Consider an athlete with one dumbbell! Picture to yourself the unilateral development,

He sat with his mouth full of toast and his eyes sparkling with mischief, watching my intellectual

entanglement. The mere sight of his excellent appetite was an assurance of success, for I had very clear

recollections of days and nights without a thought of food, when his baffled mind had chafed before some

problem while his thin, eager features became more attenuated with the asceticism of complete mental

concentration. Finally he lit his pipe, and sitting in the inglenook of the old village inn he talked slowly and at

random about his case, rather as one who thinks aloud than as one who makes a considered statement.

"A lie, Watson a great, big, thumping, obtrusive, uncom promising lie that's what meets us on the

threshold! There is our starting point. The whole story told by Barker is a lie. But Barker's story is

corroborated by Mrs. Douglas. Therefore she is lying also. They are both lying, and in a conspiracy. So now

we have the clear problem. Why are they lying, and what is the truth which they are trying so hard to

conceal? Let us try, Watson, you and I, if we can get behind the lie and reconstruct the truth.

"How do I know that they are lying? Because it is a clumsy fabrication which simply could not be true.

Consider! According to the story given to us, the assassin had less than a minute after the murder had been

committed to take that ring, which was under another ring, from the dead man's finger, to replace the other

ring a thing which he would surely never have done and to put that singular card beside his victim. I

"You may argue but I have too much respect for your judgment, Watson, to think that you will do so

that the ring may have been taken before the man was killed. The fact that the candle had been lit only a short

time shows that there had been no lengthy interview. Was Douglas, from what we hear of his fearless

character, a man who would be likely to give up his wedding ring at such short notice, or could we conceive

of his giving it up at all? No, no, Watson, the assassin was alone with the dead man for some time with the

"But the gunshot was apparently the cause of death. Therefore the shot must have been fired some time

earlier than we are told. But there could be no mistake about such a matter as that. We are in the presence,

therefore, of a deliberate conspiracy upon the part of the two people who heard the gunshot of the man

Barker and of the woman Douglas. When on the top of this I am able to show that the blood mark on the

windowsill was deliber ately placed there by Barker, in order to give a false clue to the police, you will

"Now we have to ask ourselves at what hour the murder actually did occur. Up to halfpast ten the servants

were moving about the house; so it was certainly not before that time. At a quarter to eleven they had all gone

to their rooms with the exception of Ames, who was in the pantry. I have been trying some experiments after

you left us this afternoon, and I find that no noise which MacDonald can make in the study can penetrate to

"It is otherwise, however, from the housekeeper's room. It is not so far down the corridor, and from it I could

vaguely hear a voice when it was very loudly raised. The sound from a shotgun is to some extent muffled

when the discharge is at very close range, as it undoubtedly was in this instance. It would not be very loud,

and yet in the silence of the night it should have easily penetrated to Mrs. Allen's room. She is, as she has told

us, somewhat deaf; but none the less she mentioned in her evidence that she did hear something like a door

slamming half an hour before the alarm was given. Half an hour before the alarm was given would be a

quarter to eleven. I have no doubt that what she heard was the report of the gun, and that this was the real

"If this is so, we have now to determine what Barker and Mrs. Douglas, presuming that they are not the actual

murderers, could have been doing from quarter to eleven, when the sound of the shot brought them down,

until quarter past eleven, when they rang the bell and summoned the servants. What were they doing, and

why did they not instantly give the alarm? That is the question which faces us, and when it has been answered

"I am convinced myself," said I, "that there is an under standing between those two people. She must be a

heartless creature to sit laughing at some jest within a few hours of her husband's murder."

"Exactly. She does not shine as a wife even in her own account of what occurred. I am not a wholesouled

admirer of womankind, as you are aware, Watson, but my experience of life has taught me that there are few

wives, having any regard for their husbands, who would let any man's spoken word stand between them and

that husband's dead body. Should I ever marry, Watson, I should hope to inspire my wife with some feeling

which would prevent her from being walked off by a housekeeper when my corpse was lying within a few

yards of her. It was badly stagemanaged; for even the rawest investiga tors must be struck by the absence

of the usual feminine ulula tion. If there had been nothing else, this incident alone would have suggested a

"You think then, definitely, that Barker and Mrs. Douglas are guilty of the murder?"

"There is an appalling directness about your questions, Wat son," said Holmes, shaking his pipe at me.

"They come at me like bullets. If you put it that Mrs. Douglas and Barker know the truth about the murder,

and are conspiring to conceal it, then I can give you a wholesouled answer. I am sure they do. But your

more deadly proposition is not so clear. Let us for a moment consider the difficulties which stand in the way.

"We will suppose that this couple are united by the bonds of a guilty love, and that they have determined to

get rid of the man who stands between them. It is a large supposition; for discreet inquiry among servants and

others has failed to corroborate it in any way. On the contrary. there is a good deal of evidence that the

"That. I am sure. cannot he true." said I. thinking of the beautiful smiling face in the garden.

"Well at least thcy gave that impression. However, we will suppose that they are an extraordinarily astute

couple, who de ceive evcryone upon this point. and conspire to murder the husband. He happens to be a

Holmes looked thoughtful. "I see. Watson. You are sketching out a theory by which everything they say from

the beginning is false. According to your idea, there was never any hidden men ace. or secret society, or

Valley of Fear, or Boss MacSomebody, or anything else. Well, that is a good sweeping generalization. Let us

see what that brings us to. They invent this theory to account for the crime. They then play up to the idea by

leaving this bicycle in the park as proof of the existence of some outsider. The stain on the windowsill

conveys the same idea. So does the card on the body, which might have been prepared in the house. That all

fits into your hypothesis, Watson. But now we come on the nasty, angular, uncompromising bits which won't

slip into their places. Why a cutoff shotgun of all weapons and an American one at that? How could they

be so sure that the sound of it would not bring someone on to them? It's a mere chance as it is that Mrs. Allen

did not start out to inquire for the slamming door. Why did your guilty couple do all this, Watson?"

"Then again, if a woman and her lover conspire to murder a husband, are they going to advertise their guilt by

ostentatiously removing his wedding ring after his death? Does that strike you as very probable, Watson?"

"And once again, if the thought of leaving a bicycle con cealed outside had occurred to you. would it really

have seemed worth doing when the dullest detective would naturally say this is an obvious blind. as the

bicycle is the first thing which the fugitive needed in order to make his escape."

"And yet there should be no combination of cvents for which the wit of man cannot conceive an explanation.

Simply as a mental exercise. without any assertion that it is true. Let me indicate a possible line of thought. It

is, I admit, mere imagina tion; but how often is imagination the mother of truth?

"We will suppose that there was a guilty secret. a really shameful secret in the life of this man Douglas. This

leads to his murder by someone who is. we will suppose, an avenger. some one from outside. This avenger.

for some reason which I confess I am still at a loss to cxplain. took the dead man's wedding ring. The

vendetta might conceivably date back to the man's first marriage, and thc ring bc taken for some such reason.

"Before this avenger got away, Barker and the wife had reached the room. The assassin convinced them that

any attempt to arrest him would lead to the publication of some hideous scandal. They were converted to this

idea, and preferred to let him go. For this purpose they probably lowered the bridge, which can be done quite

noiselessly, and then raised it again. He made his escape, and for some reason thought that he could do so

more safely on foot than on the bicycle. He therefore left his machine where it would not be discovered until

he had got safely away. So far we are within the bounds of possibility, are we not?"

"We have to remember, Watson, that whatever occurred is certainly something very extraordinary. Well,

now, to continue our supposititious case, the couple not necessarily a guilty couple realize after the

murderer is gone that they have placed themselves in a position in which it may be difficult for them to prove

that they did not themselves either do the deed or connive at it. They rapidly and rather clumsily met the

situation. The mark was put by Barker's bloodstained slipper upon the window sill to suggest how the

fugitive got away. They obviously were the two who must have heard the sound of the gun; so they gave the

"Well, if there were an outsider, he may be traced and taken. That would be the most effective of all proofs.

But if not well, the resources of science are far from being exhausted. I think that an evening alone in that

"I propose to go up there presently. I have arranged it with the estimable Ames, who is by no means

wholehearted about Barker. I shall sit in that room and see if its atmosphere brings me inspiration. I'm a

believer in the genius loci. You smile, Friend Watson. Well, we shall see. By the way, you have that big

"Nothing serious, my dear Watson, or I should certainly ask for your assistance. But I'll take the umbrella. At

present I am only awaiting the return of our colleagues from Tunbridge Wells, where they are at present

It was nightfall before Inspector MacDonald and White Mason came back from their expedition, and they

"Man, I'll admeet that I had my doubts if there was ever an outsider," said MacDonald, "but that's all past

now. We've had the bicycle identified, and we have a description of our man; so that's a long step on our

"It sounds to me like the beginning of the end," said Holmes. "I'm sure I congratulate you both with all my

"Well, I started from the fact that Mr. Douglas had seemed disturbed since the day before, when he had been

at Tunbridge Wells. It was at Tunbridge Wells then that he had become conscious of some danger. It was

clear, therefore, that if a nlan had come over with a bicycle it was from Tunbridge Wells that he might be

expected to have come. We took the bicycle over with us and showed it at the hotels. It was identified at once

by the manager of the Eagle Commercial as belonging to a man named Hargrave, who had taken a room there

two days before. This bicycle and a small valise were his whole belongings. 'He had registered his name as

coming from London, but had given no address. The valise was London made, and the contents were British;

"Well, well," said Holmes gleefully, "you have indeed done some solid work while I have been sitting

"That may or may not be. But let us hear the end, Mr. Mac. Was there nothing to identify this man?"

"So little that it was evident that he had carefully guarded himself against identification. There were no

papers or letters, and no marking upon the clothes. A cycle map of the county lay on his bedroom table. He

had left the hotel after breakfast yesterday morning on his bicycle, and no more was heard of him until our

"That's what puzzles me, Mr. Holmes," said White Mason. "If the fellow did not want the hue and cry raised

over him, one would imagine that he would have returned and remained at the hotel as an inoffensive tourist.

As it is, he must know that he will be reported to the police by the hotel manager and that his disappearance

"So one would imagine. Still, he has been justified of his wisdom up to date, at any rate, since he has not been

MacDonald referred to his notebook. "Here we have it so far as they could give it. They don't seem to have

taken any very particular stock of him; but still the porter, the clerk, and the chambermaid are all agreed that

this about covers the points. He was a man about five foot nine in height, fifty or so years of age, his hair

slightly grizzled, a grayish moustache, a curved nose, and a face which all of them described as fierce and

"Well, bar the expression, that might almost be a description of Douglas himself," said Holmes. "He is just

over fifty, with grizzled hair and moustache, and about the same height. Did you get anything else?"

"He was dressed in a heavy gray suit with a reefer jacket, and he wore a short yellow overcoat and a soft

"It is less than two feet long. It could very well have fitted into his valise. He could have carried it inside his

"Well, Mr. Holmes," said MacDonald, "when we have got our man and you may be sure that I had his

description on the wires within five minutes of hearing it we shall be better able to judge. But, even as it

stands, we have surely gone a long way. We know that an American calling himself Hargrave came to

Tunbridge Wells two days ago with bicycle and valise. In the latter was a sawedoff shotgun; so he came

with the deliberate purpose of crime. Yesterday morning he set off for this place on his bicycle, with his gun

concealed in his overcoat. No one saw him arrive, so far as we can learn; but he need not pass through the

village to reach the park gates, and there are many cyclists upon the road. Presumably he at once concealed

his cycle among the laurels where it was found. and possibly lurked there him self, with his eye on the

house, waiting for Mr. Douglas to come out. The shotgun is a strange weapon to use inside a house; but he

had intended to use it outside. and there it has very obvious advantages. as it would be impossible to miss

with it, and the sound of shots is so common in an English sporting neighbour hood that no particular notice

"Well, Mr. Douglas did not appear. What was he to do next? He left his bicycle and approached the house in

the twilight. He found the bridge down and no one about. He took his chance, intending, no doubt, to make

some excuse if he met anyone. He met no one. He slipped into the first room that he saw, and concealed

himself behind the curtain. Thence he could see the drawbridge go up, and he knew that his only escape was

through the moat. He waited until quarterpast eleven, when Mr. Douglas upon his usual nightly round came

into the room. He shot him and escaped, as arranged. He was aware that the bicycle would be described by

the hotel people and be a clue against him; so he left it there and made his way by some other means to

London or to some safe hiding place which he had already arranged. How is that, Mr. Holmes?"

"Well, Mr. Mac, it is very good and very clear so far as it goes. That is your end of the story. My end is that

the crime was committed half an hour earlier than reported; that Mrs. Douglas and Barker are both in a

conspiracy to conceal something; that they aided the murderer's escape or at least that they reached the

room before he escaped and that they fabricated evidence of his escape through the window, whereas in

all probability they had themselves let him go by lowering the bridge. That's my reading of the first half."

"Well, Mr. Holmes, if this is true, we only tumble out of one mystery into another," said the London

"And in some ways a worse one," added White Mason. "The lady has never been in America in all her life.

What possible connection could she have with an American assassin which would cause her to shelter him?"

"I freely admit the difficulties," said Holmes. "I propose to make a little investigation of my own tonight,

"No, no! Darkness and Dr. Watson's umbrella my wants are simple. And Ames, the faithful Ames, no

doubt he will stretch a point for me. All my lines of thought lead me back invariably to the one basic question

why should an athletic man develop his frame upon so unnatural an instrument as a single dumbbell?"

It was late that night when Holmes returned from his solitary excursion. We slept in a doublebedded room,

which was the best that the little country inn could do for us. I was already asleep when I was partly

He stood beside me in silence, his candle in his hand. Then the tall, lean figure inclined towards me. "I say,

Watson," he whispered, "would you be afraid to sleep in the same room with a lunatic, a man with softening

Next morning, after breakfast, we found Inspector MacDonald and White Mason seated in close consultation

in the small par lour of the local police sergeant. On the table in front of them were piled a number of letters

and telegrams, which they were carefully sorting and docketing. Three had been placed on one side.

"Still on the track of the elusive bicyclist?" Holmes asked cheerfully. "What is the latest news of the ruffian?"

"He is at present reported from Leicester, Nottingham, South ampton, Derby, East Ham, Richmond, and

fourteen other places. In three of them East Ham, Leicester, and Liverpool there is a clear case against

him, and he has actually been arrested. The country seems to be full of the fugitives with yellow coats."

"Dear me!" said Holmes sympathetically. "Now, Mr. Mac and you, Mr. White Mason, I wish to give you a

very earnest piece of advice. When I went into this case with you I bargained, as you will no doubt

remember, that I should not present you with halfproved theories, but that I should retain and work out my

own ideas until I had satisfied myself that they were correct. For this reason I am not at the present moment

telling you all that is in my mind. On the other hand, I said that I would play the game fairly by you, and I do

not think it is a fair game to allow you for one unnecessary moment to waste your energies upon a profitless

task. Therefore I am here to advise you this morning, and my advice to you is summed up in three words

"I consider your case to be hopeless. I do not consider that it is hopeless to arrive at the truth."

"But this cyclist. He is not an invention. We have his descrip tion, his valise, his bicycle. The fellow must be

"Yes, yes, no doubt he is somewhere, and no doubt we shall get him; but I would not have you waste your

energies in East Ham or Liverpool. I am sure that we can find some shorter cut to a result."

"You are holding something back. It's hardly fair of you, Mr. Holmes." The inspector was annoyed.

"You know my methods of work, Mr. Mac. But I will hold it back for the shortest time possible. I only wish

to verify my details in one way, which can very readily be done, and then I make my bow and return to

London, leaving my results entirely at your service. I owe you too much to act otherwise; for in all my

"This is clean beyond me, Mr. Holmes. We saw you when we returned from Tunbndge Wells last night, and

you were in general agreement with our results. What has happened since then to give you a completely new

"Well, since you ask me, I spent, as I told you that I would, some hours last night at the Manor House."

"Ah, I can only give you a very general answer to that for the moment. By the way, I have been reading a

short but clear and interesting account of the old building, purchasable at the modest sum of one penny from

Here Holmes drew a small tract, embellished with a rude engraving of the ancient Manor House, from his

"It immensely adds to the zest of an investigation, my dear Mr. Mac, when one is in conscious sympathy with

the historical atmosphere of one's surroundings. Don't look so impatient; for I assure you that even so bald an

account as this raises some sort of picture of the past in one's mind. Permit me to give you a sample. 'Erected

in the fifth year of the reign of James 1, and standing upon the site of a much older building, the Manor

House of Birlstone presents one of the finest surviving examples of the moated Jacobean residence ' "

"Tut, tut, Mr. Mac! the first sign of temper I have detected in you. Well, I won't read it verbatim, since

you feel so strongly upon the subject. But when I tell you that there is some account of the taking of the place

by a parliamentary colonel in 1644, of the concealment of Charles for several days in the course of the Civil

War, and finally of a visit there by the second George, you will admit that there are various associations of

"Is it not? Is it not? Breadth of view, my dear Mr. Mac, is one of the essentials of our profession. The

interplay of ideas and the oblique uses of knowledge are often of extraordinary interest. You will excuse

these remarks from one who, though a mere connoisseur of crime, is still rather older and perhaps more

"I'm the first to admit that," said the detective heartily. "You get to your point, I admit; but you have such a

"Well, well, I'll drop past history and get down to present day facts. I called last night, as I have already

said, at the Manor House. I did not see either Barker or Mrs. Douglas. I saw no necessity to disturb them; but

I was pleased to hear that the lady was not visibly pining and that she had partaken of an excellent dinner. My

visit was specially made to the good Mr. Ames, with whom I exchanged some amiabilities, which culmi

nated in his allowing me, without reference to anyone else. to sit alone for a time in the study."

"No, no, everything is now in order. You gave permission for that, Mr. Mac, as I am informed. The room was

"Well, not to make a mystery of so simple a matter, I was looking for the missing dumbbell. It has always

"Ah, there we come to the edge of the unexplored. Let me go a little further, a very little further, and I will

"Well, we're bound to take you on your own terms," said the inspector; "but when it comes to telling us to

"For the simple reason, my dear Mr. Mac, that you have not got the first idea what it is that you are

"Yes, yes, so you are. But don't trouble to trace the mysteri ous gentleman upon the bicycle. I assure you

"Well, I'm bound to say I've always found you had reason behind all your queer ways. I'll do what you

The country detective looked helplessly from one to the other. Holmes and his methods were new to him.

"Well, if it is good enough for the inspector, it is good enough for me," he said at last.

"Capital!" said Holmes. "Well, then, I should recommend a nice, cheery country walk for both of you. They

tell me that the views from Birlstone Ridge over the Weald are very remarkable. No doubt lunch could be got

at some suitable hostelry; though my ignorance of the country prevents me from recommending one. In the

"Man, this is getting past a joke!" cried MacDonald, rising angrily from his chair.

"Well, well, spend the day as you like," said Holmes, patting him cheerfully upon the shoulder. "Do what you

like and go where you will, but meet me here before dusk without fail without fail, Mr. Mac."

"All of it was excellent advice; but I don't insist, so long as you are here when I need you. But now, before

" diverting the stream; so I thought it best to explain matters beforehand. Now sign that, and send it by

hand about four o'clock. At that hour we shall meet again in this room. Until then we may each do what we

Evening was drawing in when we reassembled. Holmes was very serious in his manner, myself curious, and

"Well, gentlemen," said my friend gravely, "I am asking you now to put everything to the test with me, and

you will judge for yourselves whether the observations I have made jus tify the conclusions to which I have

come. It is a chill evening, and I do not know how long our expedition may last; so I beg that you will wear

your warmest coats. It is of the first impor tance that we should be in our places before it grows dark; so

We passed along the outer bounds of the Manor House park until we came to a place where there was a gap

in the rails which fenced it. Through this we slipped, and then in the gathering gloom we followed Holmes

until we had reached a shrubbery which lies nearly opposite to the main door and the drawbridge. The latter

had not been raised. Holmes crouched down behind the screen of laurels, and we all three followed his

"Possess our souls in patience and make as little noise as possible," Holmes answered.

"What are we here for at all? I really think that you might treat us with more frankness."

Holmes laughed. "Watson insists that I am the dramatist in real life," said he. "Some touch of the artist wells

up within me, and calls insistently for a wellstaged performance. Surely our profession, Mr. Mac, would be

a drab and sordid one if we did not sometimes set the scene so as to glorify our results. The blunt accusation,

the brutal tap upon the shoulder what can one make of such a denouement? But the quick inference, the

subtle trap, the clever forecast of coming events, the triumphant vindi cation of bold theories are these

not the pride and the justifica tion of our life's work? At the present moment you thrill with the glamour of

the situation and the anticipation of the hunt. Where would be that thrill if I had been as definite as a

timetable? I only ask a little patience, Mr. Mac, and all will be clear to you."

"Well, I hope the pride and justification and the rest of it will come before we all get our death of cold," said

We all had good reason to join in the aspiration; for our vigil was a long and bitter one. Slowly the shadows

darkened over the long, sombre face of the old house. A cold, damp reek from the moat chilled us to the

bones and set our teeth chattering. There was a single lamp over the gateway and a steady globe of light in

"How long is this to last?" asked the inspector finally. "And what is it we are watching for?"

"I have no more notion than you how long it is to last," Holmes answered with some asperity. "If criminals

would always schedule their movements like railway trains, it would certainly be more convenient for all of

As he spoke the bright, yellow light in the study was obscured by somebody passing to and fro before it. The

laurels among which we lay were immediately opposite the window and not more than a hundred feet from it.

Presently it was thrown open with a whining of hinges, and we could dimly see the dark outline of a man's

head and shoulders looking out into the gloom. For some minutes he peered forth in furtive, stealthy fashion,

as one who wishes to be assured that he is unobserved. Then he leaned forward, and in the intense silence we

were aware of the soft lapping of agitated water. He seemed to be stirring up the moat with something which

he held in his hand. Then suddenly he hauled something in as a fisherman lands a fish some large, round

We were all upon our feet, staggering after him with our stiffened limbs, while he ran swiftly across the

bridge and rang violently at the bell. There was the rasping of bolts from the other side, and the amazed Ames

stood in the entrance. Holmes brushed him aside without a word and, followed by all of us, rushed into the

The oil lamp on the table represented the glow which we had seen from outside. It was now in the hand of

Cecil Barker, who held it towards us as we entered. Its light shone upon his strong, resolute, cleanshaved

"What the devil is the meaning of all this?" he cried. "What are you after, anyhow?"

Holmes took a swift glance round, and then pounced upon a sodden bundle tied together with cord which lay

"This is what we are after, Mr. Barker this bundle, weighted with a dumbbell, which you have just raised

Barker stared at Holmes with amazement in his face. "How in thunder came you to know anything about it?"

"Perhaps I should have said 'replaced it there,' " said Holmes. "You will remember, Inspector MacDonald,

that I was some what struck by the absence of a dumbbell. I drew your attention to it; but with the pressure

of other events you had hardly the time to give it the consideration which would have enabled you to draw

deductions from it. When water is near and a weight is missing it is not a very farfetched supposition that

something has been sunk in the water. The idea was at least worth testing; so with the help of Ames, who

admitted me to the room, and the crook of Dr. Watson's umbrella, I was able last night to fish up and inspect

"It was of the first importance, however, that we should be able to prove who placed it there. This we

accomplished by the very obvious device of announcing that the moat would be dried tomorrow, which had,

of course, the effect that whoever had hidden the bundle would most certainly withdraw it the moment that

darkness enabled him to do so. We have no less than four witnesses as to who it was who took advantage of

Sherlock Holmes put the sopping bundle upon the table beside the lamp and undid the cord which bound it.

From within he extracted a dumbbell, which he tossed down to its fellow in the corner. Next he drew forth a

pair of boots. "American, as you perceive," he remarked, pointing to the toes. Then he laid upon the table a

long, deadly, sheathed knife. Finally he unravelled a bundle of clothing, comprising a complete set of

"The clothes are commonplace," remarked Holmes, "save only the overcoat, which is full of suggestive

touches." He held it tenderly towards the light. "Here, as you perceive, is the inner pocket prolonged into the

lining in such fashion as to give ample space for the truncated fowling piece. The tailor's tab is on the neck

'Neal, Outfitter, Vermissa, U. S. A.' I have spent an instructive afternoon in the rector's library, and have

enlarged my knowledge by adding the fact that Vermissa is a flourishing little town at the head of one of the

best known coal and iron valleys in the United States. I have some recollection, Mr. Barker, that you

associated the coal districts with Mr. Douglas's first wife, and it would surely not be too farfetched an

inference that the V. V. upon the card by the dead body might stand for Vermissa Valley, or that this very

valley which sends forth emissaries of murder may be that Valley of Fear of which we have heard. So much

is fairly clear. And now, Mr. Barker, I seem to be standing rather in the way of your explanation."

It was a sight to see Cecil Barker's expressive face during this exposition of the great detective. Anger,

amazement, consterna tion, and indecision swept over it in turn. Finally he took refuge in a somewhat acrid

"You know such a lot, Mr. Holmes, perhaps you had better tell us some more," he sneered.

"I have no doubt that I could tell you a great deal more, Mr. Barker; but it would come with a better grace

"Oh, you think so, do you? Well, all I can say is that if there's any secret here it is not my secret, and I am not

"Well, if you take that line, Mr. Barker," said the inspector quietly, "we must just keep you in sight until we

The proceedings seemed to have come to a definite end so far as he was concerned; for one had only to look

at that granite face to realize that no peine forte et dure would ever force him to plead against his will. The

deadlock was broken, however, by a woman's voice. Mrs. Douglas had been standing listening at the half

"You have done enough for now, Cecil," said she. "What ever comes of it in the future, you have done

"Enough and more than enough," remarked Sherlock Holmes gravely. "I have every sympathy with you,

madam, and should strongly urge you to have some confidence in the common sense of our jurisdiction and

to take the police voluntarily into your complete confidence. It may be that I am myself at fault for not

following up the hint which you conveyed to me through my friend, Dr. Watson; but, at that time I had every

reason to believe that you were directly concerned in the crime. Now I am assured that this is not so. At the

same time, there is much that is unexplained, and I should strongly recommend that you ask Mr. Douglas to

Mrs. Douglas gave a cry of astonishment at Holmes's words. The detectives and I must have echoed it, when

we were aware of a man who seemed to have emerged from the wall, who advanced now from the gloom of

the corner in which he had appeared. Mrs. Douglas turned, and in an instant her arms were round him. Barker

"Indeed, yes, Mr. Douglas," said Sherlock Holmes, "I am sure that you will find it best."

The man stood blinking at us with the dazed look of one who comes from the dark into the light. It was a

remarkable face, bold gray eyes, a strong, shortclipped, grizzled moustache, a square, projecting chin, and a

humorous mouth. He took a good look at us all, and then to my amazement he advanced to me and handed

"I've heard of you," said he in a voice which was not quite English and not quite American, but was

altogether mellow and pleasing. "You are the historian of this bunch. Well, Dr. Wat son, you've never had

such a story as that pass through your hands before, and I'll lay my last dollar on that. Tell it your own way;

but there are the facts, and you can't miss the public so long as you have those. I've been cooped up two days,

and I've spent the daylight hours as much daylight as I could get in that rat trap in putting the thing into

words. You're welcome to them you and your public. There's the story of the Valley of Fear."

"That's the past, Mr. Douglas," said Sherlock Holmes qui etly. "What we desire now is to hear your story of

"You'll have it, sir," said Douglas. "May I smoke as I talk? Well, thank you, Mr. Holmes. You're a smoker

yourself, if I remember right, and you'll guess what it is to be sitting for two days with tobacco in your pocket

and afraid that the smell will give you away." He leaned against the mantelpiece and sucked at the cigar

which Holmes had handed him. "I've heard of you Mr. Holmes. I never guessed that I should meet you. But

before you are through with that," he nodded at my papers, "you will say I've brought you something fresh."

Inspector MacDonald had been staring at the newcomer with the greatest amazement. "Well, this fairly beats

me!" he cried at last. "If you are Mr. John Douglas of Birlstone Manor, then whose death have we been

investigating for these two days, and where in the world have you sprung from now? You seemed to me to

"Ah, Mr. Mac," said Holmes, shaking a reproving forefin ger, "you would not read that excellent local

compilation which described the concealment of King Charles. People did not hide in those days without

excellent hiding places, and the hiding place that has once been used may be again. I had persuaded myself

"And how long have you been playing this trick upon us, Mr. Holmes?" said the inspector angrily. "How long

have you allowed us to waste ourselves upon a search that you knew to be an absurd one?"

"Not one instant, my dear Mr. Mac. Only last night did I form my views of the case. As they could not be put

to the proof until this evening, I invited you and your colleague to take a holiday for the day. Pray what more

could I do? When I found the suit of clothes in the moat, it at once became apparent to me that the body we

had found could not have been the body of Mr. John Douglas at all, but must be that of the bicyclist from

Tunbridge Wells. No other conclusion was possible. Therefore I had to determine where Mr. John Douglas

himself could be, and the balance of probability was that with the connivance of his wife and his friend he

was concealed in a house which had such conveniences for a fugitive, and awaiting quieter times when he

"Well, you figured it out about right," said Douglas approv ingly. "I thought I'd dodge your British law; for I

was not sure how I stood under it, and also I saw my chance to throw these hounds once for all off my track.

Mind you, from first to last I have done nothing to be ashamed of, and nothing that I would not do again; but

you'll judge that for yourselves when I tell you my story. Never mind warning me, Inspector: I'm ready to

"I'm not going to begin at the beginning. That's all there," he indicated my bundle of papers, "and a mighty

queer yarn you'll find it. It all comes down to this: That there are some men that have good cause to hate me

and would give their last dollar to know that they had got me. So long as I am alive and they are alive, there

is no safety in this world for me. They hunted me from Chicago to California, then they chased me out of

America; but when I married and settled down in this quiet spot I thought my last years were going to be

"I never explained to my wife how things were. Why should I pull her into it? She would never have a quiet

moment again; but would always be imagining trouble. I fancy she knew something, for I may have dropped

a word here or a word there; but until yesterday, after you gentlemen had seen her, she never knew the rights

of the matter. She told you all she knew, and so did Barker here; for on the night when this thing happened

there was mighty little time for explanations. She knows everything now, and I would have been a wiser man

if I had told her sooner. But it was a hard question, dear," he took her hand for an instant in his own, "and I

"Well, gentlemen, the day before these happenings I was over in Tunbridge Wells, and I got a glimpse of a

man in the street. It was only a glimpse; but I have a quick eye for these things, and I never doubted who it

was. It was the worst enemy I had among them all one who has been after me like a hungry wolf after a

caribou all these years. I knew there was trouble coming, and I came home and made ready for it. I guessed

I'd fight through it all right on my own, my luck was a proverb in the States about '76. I never doubted that it

"I was on my guard all that next day, and never went out into the park. It's as well, or he'd have had the drop

on me with that buckshot gun of his before ever I could draw on him. After the bridge was up my mind

was always more restful when that bridge was up in the evenings I put the thing clear out of my head. I

never dreamed of his getting into the house and waiting for me. But when I made my round in my dressing

gown, as was my habit, I had no sooner entered the study than I scented danger. I guess when a man has had

dangers in his life and I've had more than most in my time there is a kind of sixth sense that waves the

red flag. I saw the signal clear enough, and yet I couldn't tell you why. Next instant I spotted a boot under the

"I'd just the one candle that was in my hand; but there was a good light from the hall lamp through the open

door. I put down the candle and jumped for a hammer that I'd left on the mantel. At the same moment he

sprang at me. I saw the glint of a knife, and I lashed at him with the hammer. I got him somewhere; for the

knife tinkled down on the floor. He dodged round the table as quick as an eel, and a moment later he'd got his

gun from under his coat. I heard him cock it; but I had got hold of it before he could fire. I had it by the

barrel, and we wrestled for it all ends up for a minute or more. It was death to the man that lost his grip.

"He never lost his grip; but he got it butt downward for a moment too long. Maybe it was I that pulled the

trigger. Maybe we just jolted it off between us. Anyhow, he got both barrels in the face, and there I was,

staring down at all that was left of Ted Baldwin. I'd recognized him in the township, and again when he

sprang for me; but his own mother wouldn't recognize him as I saw him then. I'm used to rough work; but I

"I was hanging on the side of the table when Barker came hurrying down. I heard my wife coming, and I ran

to the door and stopped her. It was no sight for a woman. I promised I'd come to her soon. I said a word or

two to Barker he took it all in at a glance and we waited for the rest to come along. But there was no

sign of them. Then we understood that they could hear nothing, and that all that had happened was known

"It was at that instant that the idea came to me. I was fairly dazzled by the brilliance of it. The man's sleeve

had slipped up and there was the branded mark of the lodge upon his forearm. See here!"

The man whom we had known as Douglas turned up his own coat and cuff to show a brown triangle within a

"It was the sight of that which started me on it. I seemed to see it all clear at a glance. There were his height

and hair and figure, about the same as my own. No one could swear to his face, poor devil! I brought down

this suit of clothes, and in a quarter of an hour Barker and I had put my dressing gown on him and he lay as

you found him. We tied all his things into a bundle, and I weighted them with the only weight I could find

and put them through the window. The card he had meant to lay upon my body was lying beside his own.

"My rings were put on his finger; but when it came to the wedding ring," he held out his muscular hand, "you

can see for yourselves that I had struck the limit. I have not moved it since the day I was married, and it

would have taken a file to get it off. I don't know, anyhow, that I should have cared to part with it; but if I had

wanted to I couldn't. So we just had to leave that detail to take care of itself. On the other hand, I brought a bit

of plaster down and put it where I am wearing one myself at this instant. You slipped up there, Mr. Holmes,

clever as you are; for if you had chanced to take off that plaster you would have found no cut underneath it.

"Well, that was the situation. If I could lie low for a while and then get away where I could be joined by my

'widow' we should have a chance at last of living in peace for the rest of our lives. These devils would give

me no rest so long as I was above ground; but if they saw in the papers that Baldwin had got his man, there

would be an end of all my troubles. I hadn't much time to make it all clear to Barker and to my wife; but they

understood enough to be able to help me. I knew all about this hiding place, so did Ames; but it never entered

his head to connect it with the matter. I retired into it, and it was up to Barker to do the rest.

"I guess you can fill in for yourselves what he did. He opened the window and made the mark on the sill to

give an idea of how the murderer escaped. It was a tall order, that; but as the bridge was up there was no other

way. Then, when everything was fixed, he rang the bell for all he was worth. What happened afterward you

know. And so, gentlemen, you can do what you please; but I've told you the truth and the whole truth, so help

"The English law is in the main a just law. You will get no worse than your deserts from that, Mr. Douglas.

But I would ask you how did this man know that you lived here, or how to get into your house, or where to

Holmes's face was very white and grave. "The story is not over yet, I fear," said he. "You may find worse

dangers than the English law, or even than your enemies from America. I see trouble before you, Mr.

And now, my longsuffering readers, I will ask you to come away with me for a time, far from the Sussex

Manor House of Birlstone, and far also from the year of grace in which we made our eventful journey which

ended with the strange story of the man who had been known as John Douglas. I wish you to journey back

some twenty years in time, and westward some thousands of miles in space, that I may lay before you a

singular and terrible narrative so singular and so terrible that you may find it hard to believe that even as I

Do not think that I intrude one story before another is finished. As you read on you will find that this is not

so. And when I have detailed those distant events and you have solved this mystery of the past, we shall meet

once more in those rooms on Baker Street, where this, like so many other wonderful happenings, will find its

It was the fourth of February in the year 1875. It had been a severe winter, and the snow lay deep in the

gorges of the Gilmerton Mountains. The steam ploughs had, however, kept the railroad open, and the evening

train which connects the long line of coalmining and ironworking settlements was slowly groan ing its

way up the steep gradients which lead from Stagville on the plain to Vermissa, the central township which

lies at the head of Vermissa Valley. From this point the track sweeps downward to Bartons Crossing,

Helmdale, and the purely agricultural county of Merton. It was a singletrack railroad; but at every siding

and they were numerous long lines of trucks piled with coal and iron ore told of the hidden wealth which

had brought a rude population and a bustling life to this most desolate corner of the United States of America.

For desolate it was! Little could the first pioneer who had traversed it have ever imagined that the fairest

prairies and the most lush water pastures were valueless compared to this gloomy land of black crag and

tangled forest. Above the dark and often scarcely penetrable woods upon their flanks, the high, bare crowns

of the mountains, white snow, and jagged rock towered upon each flank, leaving a long, winding, tortuous

The oil lamps had just been lit in the leading passenger car, a long, bare carriage in which some twenty or

thirty people were seated. The greater number of these were workmen returning from their day's toil in the

lower part of the valley. At least a dozen, by their grimed faces and the safety lanterns which they carried,

proclaimed themselves miners. These sat smoking in a group and conversed in low voices, glancing

occasionally at two men on the opposite side of the car, whose uniforms and badges showed them to be

Several women of the labouring class and one or two travellers who might have been small local storekeepers

made up the rest of the company, with the exception of one young man in a corner by himself. It is with this

He is a freshcomplexioned, middlesized young man, not far one would guess, from his thirtieth year. He

has large, shrewd, humorous gray eyes which twinkle inquiringly from time to time as he looks round

through his spectacles at the people about him. It is easy to see that he is of a sociable and possibly simple

disposition, anxious to be friendly to all men. Anyone could pick him at once as gregarious in his habits and

communicative in his nature, with a quick wit and a ready smile. And yet the man who studied him more

closely might discern a certain firmness of jaw and grim tightness about the lips which would warn him that

there were depths beyond, and that this pleasant, brownhaired young Irishman might conceivably leave his

Having made one or two tentative remarks to the nearest miner, and receiving only short, gruff replies, the

traveller re signed himself to uncongenial silence, staring moodily out of the window at the fading

It was not a cheering prospect. Through the growing gloom there pulsed the red glow of the furnaces on the

sides of the hills. Great heaps of slag and dumps of cinders loomed up on each side, with the high shafts of

the collieries towering above them. Huddled groups of mean, wooden houses, the windows of which were

beginning to outline themselves in light, were scattered here and there along the line, and the frequent halting

The iron and coal valleys of the Vermissa district were no resorts for the leisured or the cultured. Everywhere

there were stern signs of the crudest battle of life, the rude work to be done, and the rude, strong workers who

The young traveller gazed out into this dismal country with a face of mingled repulsion and interest, which

showed that the scene was new to him. At intervals he drew from his pocket a bulky letter to which he

referred, and on the margins of which he scribbled some notes. Once from the back of his waist he produced

something which one would hardly have expected to find in the possession of so mildmannered a man. It

was a navy revolver of the largest size. As he turned it slantwise to the light, the glint upon the rims of the

copper shells within the drum showed that it was fully loaded. He quickly restored it to his secret pocket, but

not before it had been observed by a working man who had seated himself upon the adjoining bench.

"Why, I thought the country was full of it. You'll hear quick enough. What made you come here?"

"I am one of the Eminent Order of Freemen. There's no town without a lodge, and where there is a lodge I'll

The remark had a singular effect upon his companion. He glanced round suspiciously at the others in the car.

The miners were still whispering among themselves. The two police officers were dozing. He came across,

"I see you speak the truth," said the workman. "But it's well to make certain." He raised his right hand to his

"That's good enough. I'm Brother Scanlan, Lodge 341, Vermissa Valley. Glad to see you in these parts."

"Thank you. I'm Brother John McMurdo, Lodge 29, Chi cago. Bodymaster J. H. Scott. But I am in luck to

"Well, there are plenty of us about. You won't find the order more flourishing anywhere in the States than

right here in Vermissa Valley. But we could do with some lads like you. I can't understand a spry man of the

McMurdo nodded towards the policemen and smiled. "I guess those chaps would be glad to know," he said.

"It's early days to talk of such things," said McMurdo with the air of a man who had been surprised into

saying more than he intended. "I've my own good reasons for leaving Chicago, and let that be enough for

you. Who are you that you should take it on yourself to ask such things?" His gray eyes gleamed with sudden

"All right, mate, no offense meant. The boys will think none the worse of you, whatever you may have done.

McMurdo took out an envelope and held it close to the murky oil lamp. "Here is the address Jacob

Shafter, Sheridan Street. It's a boarding house that was recommended by a man I knew in Chicago."

"Well, I don't know it; but Vermissa is out of my beat. I live at Hobson's Patch, and that's here where we are

drawing up. But, say, there's one bit of advice I'll give you before we part: If you're in trouble in Vermissa, go

straight to the Union House and see Boss McGinty. He is the Bodymaster of Vermissa Lodge, and nothing

can happen in these parts unless Black Jack McGinty wants it. So long, mate! Maybe we'll meet in lodge one

of these evenings. But mind my words: If you are in trouble, go to Boss McGinty."

Scanlan descended, and McMurdo was left once again to his thoughts. Night had now fallen, and the flames

of the frequent furnaces were roaring and leaping in the darkness. Against their lurid background dark figures

were bending and straining, twist ing and turning, with the motion of winch or of windlass, to the rhythm of

McMurdo turned and saw that one of the policemen had shifted in his seat and was staring out into the fiery

"For that matter," said the other policeman, "I allow that hell must be something like that. If there are worse

devils down yonder than some we could name, it's more than I'd expect. I guess you are new to this part,

"Just this, mister, that I should advise you to be careful in choosing your friends. I don't think I'd begin with

"What the hell is it to you who are my friends?" roared McMurdo in a voice which brought every head in the

carriage round to witness the altercation. "Did I ask you for your advice, or did you think me such a sucker

that I couldn't move without it? You speak when you are spoken to, and by the Lord you'd have to wait a long

time if it was me!" He thrust out his face and grinned at the patrolmen like a snarling dog.

The two policemen, heavy, goodnatured men, were taken aback by the extraordinary vehemence with which

"No offense, stranger," said one. "It was a warning for your own good, seeing that you are, by your own

"I'm new to the place; but I'm not new to you and your kind!" cried McMurdo in cold fury. "I guess you're the

"Maybe we'll see more of you before very long," said one of the patrolmen with a grin. "You're a real

"I'm not afraid of you, and don't you think it!" cried McMurdo. "My name's Jack McMurdo see? If you

want me, you'll find me at Jacob Shafter's on Sheridan Street, Vermissa; so I'm not hiding from you, am l?

Day or night I dare to look the like of you in the face don't make any mistake about that!"

There was a murmur of sympathy and admiration from the miners at the dauntless demeanour of the

newcomer, while the two policemen shrugged their shoulders and renewed a conversa tion between

A few minutes later the train ran into the illlit station, and there was a general clearing; for Vermissa was by

far the largest town on the line. McMurdo picked up his leather gripsack and was about to start off into the

"By Gar, mate! you know how to speak to the cops," he said in a voice of awe. "It was grand to hear you. Let

me carry your grip and show you the road. I'm passing Shafter's on the way to my own shack."

There was a chorus of friendly "Goodnights" from the other miners as they passed from the platform.

Before ever he had set foot in it, McMurdo the turbulent had become a character in Vermissa.

The country had been a place of terror; but the town was in its way even more depressing. Down that long

valley there was at least a certain gloomy grandeur in the huge fires and tbe clouds of drifting smoke, while

the strength and industry of man found fitting monuments in the hills which he had spilled by the side of his

monstrous excavations. But the town showed a dead level of mean ugliness and squalor. The broad street was

churned up by the traffic into a horrible rutted paste of muddy snow. The sidewalks were narrow and uneven.

The numerous gaslamps served only to show more clearly a long line of wooden houses, each with its

As they approached the centre of the town the scene was brightened by a row of welllit stores, and even

more by a cluster of saloons and gaming houses, in which the miners spent their hardearned but generous

"That's the Union House," said the guide, pointing to one saloon which rose almost to the dignity of being a

"How could I have heard of him when you know that I am a stranger in these parts?"

"Well, I thought his name was known clear across the coun try. It's been in the papers often enough."

"Good Lord, mister! you are queer, if I must say it without offense. There's only one set of affairs that you'll

"Why, I seem to have read of the Scowrers in Chicago. A gang of murderers, are they not?"

"Hush, on your life!" cried the miner, standing still in alarm, and gazing in amazement at his companion.

"Man, you won't live long in these parts if you speak in the open street like that. Many a man has had the life

"And I'm not saying that you have not read the truth." The man looked nervously round him as he spoke,

peering into the shadows as if he feared to see some lurking danger. "If killing is murder, then God knows

there is murder and to spare. But don't you dare to breathe the name of Jack McGinty in connection with it,

stranger; for every whisper goes back to him, and he is not one that is likely to let it pass. Now, that's the

house you're after, that one standing back from the street. You'll find old Jacob Shafter that runs it as honest a

"I thank you," said McMurdo, and shaking hands with his new acquaintance he plodded, gripsack in hand, up

the path which led to the dwelling house, at the door of which he gave a resounding knock.

It was opened at once by someone very different from what he had expected. It was a woman, young and

singularly beautiful. She was of the German type, blonde and fairhaired, with the piquant contrast of a pair

of beautiful dark eyes with which she surveyed the stranger with surprise and a pleasing embarrassment

which brought a wave of colour over her pale face. Framed in the bright light of the open doorway, it seemed

to McMurdo that he had never seen a more beautiful picture; the more attractive for its contrast with the

sordid and gloomy surroundings. A lovely violet growing upon one of those black slagheaps of the mines

would not have seemed more surprising. So entranced was he that he stood staring without a word, and it was

"I thought it was father," said she with a pleasing little touch of a German accent. "Did you come to see him?

McMurdo continued to gaze at her in open admiration until her eyes dropped in confusion before this

"No, miss," he said at last, "I'm in no hurry to see him. But your house was recommended to me for board. I

She laughed at the compliment. "Come right in, sir," she said. "I'm Miss Ettie Shafter, Mr. Shafter's daughter.

My moth er's dead, and I run the house. You can sit down by the stove in the front room until father comes

A heavy, elderly man came plodding up the path. In a few words McMurdo explained his business. A man of

the name of Murphy had given him the address in Chicago. He in turn had had it from someone else. Old

Shafter was quite ready. The stranger made no bones about terms, agreed at once to every condition, and was

apparently fairly flush of money. For seven dollars a week paid in advance he was to have board and lodging.

So it was that McMurdo, the selfconfessed fugitive from justice, took up his abode under the roof of the

Shafters, the first step which was to lead to so long and dark a train of events, ending in a far distant land.

McMurdo was a man who made his mark quickly. Wherever he was the folk around soon knew it. Within a

week he had become infinitely the most important person at Shafter's. There were ten or a dozen boarders

there; but they were honest foremen or commonplace clerks from the stores, of a very different calibre from

the young Irishman. Of an evening when they gathered together his joke was always the readiest, his

conversation the brightest, and his song the best. He was a born boon companion, with a magnetism which

And yet he showed again and again, as he had shown in the railway carriage, a capacity for sudden, fierce

anger, which compelled the respect and even the fear of those who met him. For the law, too, and all who

were connected with it, he exhib ited a bitter contempt which delighted some and alarmed others of his

From the first he made it evident, by his open admiration, that the daughter of the house had won his heart

from the instant that he had set eyes upon her beauty and her grace. He was no backward suitor. On the

second day he told her that he loved her, and from then onward he repeated the same story with an absolute

"Someone else?" he would cry. "Well, the worse luck for someone else! Let him look out for himself! Am I

to lose my life's chance and all my heart's desire for someone else? You can keep on saying no, Ettie: the day

He was a dangerous suitor, with his glib Irish tongue, and his pretty, coaxing ways. There was about him also

that glamour of experience and of mystery which attracts a woman's interest, and finally her love. He could

talk of the sweet valleys of County Monaghan from which he came, of the lovely, distant island, the low hills

and green meadows of which seemed the more beauti ful when imagination viewed them from this place of

Then he was versed in the life of the cities of the North, of Detroit, and the lumber camps of Michigan, and

finally of Chicago, where he had worked in a planing mill. And afterwards came the hint of romance, the

feeling that strange things had happened to him in that great city, so strange and so intimate that they might

not be spoken of. He spoke wistfully of a sudden leaving, a breaking of old ties, a flight into a strange world,

ending in this dreary valley, and Ettie listened, her dark eyes gleaming with pity and with sympathy those

McMurdo had obtained a temporary job as bookkeeper; for he was a welleducated man. This kept him out

most of the day, and he had not found occasion yet to report himself to the head of the lodge of the Eminent

Order of Freemen. He was reminded of his omission, however, by a visit one evening from Mike Scanlan, the

fellow member whom he had met in the train. Scanlan, the small, sharpfaced, nervous, blackeyed man,

seemed glad to see him once more. After a glass or two of whisky he broached the object of his visit.

"Say, McMurdo," said he, "I remembered your address, so l made bold to call. I'm surprised that you've not

"You must find time for him if you have none for anything else. Good Lord, man! you're a fool not to have

been down to the Union House and registered your name the first morning after you came here! If you run

McMurdo showed mild surprise. "I've been a member of the lodge for over two years, Scanlan, but I never

Scanlan looked at him long and fixedly. There was something sinister in his eyes.

"You'll tell me that in a month's time. I hear you had a talk with the patrolmen after I left the train."

Scanlan burst out laughing. "You go and see him, my lad," said he as he took his leave. "It's not the police but

It chanced that on the same evening McMurdo had another more pressing interview which urged him in the

same direction. It may have been that his attentions to Ettie had been more evident than before, or that they

had gradually obtruded them selves into the slow mind of his good German host; but, what ever the cause,

the boardinghouse keeper beckoned the young man into hls private room and started on the subject without

"It seems to me, mister," said he, "that you are gettin' set on my Ettie. Ain't that so, or am I wrong?"

"Vell, I vant to tell you right now that it ain't no manner of use. There's someone slipped in afore you."

"I dare say not, the leetle baggage! Perhaps she did not vish to frighten you avay."

"Ah, yes, my friend! You need not be ashamed to be fright ened of him. It is Teddy Baldwin."

"Scowrers! I've heard of them before. It's Scowrers here and Scowrers there, and always in a whisper! What

The boardinghouse keeper instinctively sank his voice, as everyone did who talked about that terrible

"You! I vould never have had you in my house if I had known it not if you vere to pay me a hundred

"What's wrong with the order? It's for charity and good fellowship. The rules say so."

"Prove it! Are there not fifty murders to prove it? Vat about Milman and Van Shorst, and the Nicholson

family, and old Mr. Hyam, and little Billy James, and the others? Prove it! Is there a man or a voman in this

"See here!" said McMurdo earnestly. "I want you to take back what you've said, or else make it good. One or

the other you must do before I quit this room. Put yourself in my place. Here am I, a stranger in the town. I

belong to a society that I know only as an innocent one. You'll find it through the length and breadth of the

States, but always as an innocent one. Now when I am counting upon joining it here, you tell me that it is the

same as a murder society called the Scowrers. I guess you owe me either an apology or else an explanation,

"I can but tell you vat the whole vorld knows, mister. The bosses of the one are the bosses of the other. If you

offend the one, it is the other vat vill strike you. We have proved it too often."

"If you live here long you vill get your proof. But I forget that you are yourself one of them. You vill soon be

as bad as the rest. But you vill find other lodgings, mister. I cannot have you here. Is it not bad enough that

one of these people come courting my Ettie, and that I dare not turn him down, but that I should have another

McMurdo found himself under sentence of banishment both from his comfortable quarters and from the girl

whom he loved. He found her alone in the sittingroom that same evening, and he poured his troubles into

"Sure, your father is after giving me notice," he said. "It's little I would care if it was just my room, but

indeed, Ettie, though it's only a week that I've known you, you are the very breath of life to me, and I can't

"Oh, hush, Mr. McMurdo, don't speak so!" said the girl. "I have told you, have I not, that you are too late?

There is another, and if I have not promised to marry him at once, at least I can promise no one else."

The girl sank her face into her hands. "I wish to heaven that you had been first!" she sobbed.

McMurdo was down on his knees before her in an instant. "For God's sake, Ettie, let it stand at that!" he

cried. "Will you ruin your life and my own for the sake of this promise? Follow your heart, acushla! 'Tis a

"No, no, Jack!" His arms were round her now. "It could not be here. Could you take me away?"

A struggle passed for a moment over McMurdo's face; but it ended by setting like granite. "No, here," he

"I'd never hold my head up again if I felt that I had been driven out. Besides, what is there to be afraid of?

Are we not free folks in a free country? If you love me, and I you, who will dare to come between?"

"You don't know, Jack. You've been here too short a time. You don't know this Baldwin. You don't know

"No, I don't know them, and I don't fear them, and I don't believe in them!" said McMurdo. "I've lived among

rough men, my darling, and instead of fearing them it has always ended that they have feared me always,

Ettie. It's mad on the face of it! If these men, as your father says, have done crime after crime in the valley,

and if everyone knows them by name, how comes it that none are brought to justice? You answer me that,

"Because no witness dares to appear against them. He would not live a month if he did. Also because they

have always their own men to swear that the accused one was far from the scene of the crime. But surely,

Jack, you must have read all this. I had understood that every paper in the United States was writing about it."

"Well, I have read something, it is true; but I had thought it was a story. Maybe these men have some reason

in what they do. Maybe they are wronged and have no other way to help themselves."

"Oh, Jack, don't let me hear you speak so! That is how he speaks the other one!"

"And that is why I loathe him so. Oh, Jack, now I can tell you the truth. I loathe him with all my heart; but I

fear him also. I fear him for myself; but above all I fear him for father. I know that some great sorrow would

come upon us if I dared to say what I really felt. That is why I have put him off with half promises. It was in

real truth our only hope. But if you would fly with me, Jack, we could take father with us and live forever far

Again there was the struggle upon McMurdo's face, and again it set like granite. "No harm shall come to you,

Ettie nor to your father either. As to wicked men, I expect you may find that I am as bad as the worst of

McMurdo laughed bitterly. "Good Lord! how little you know of me! Your innocent soul, my darling, could

The door had opened suddenly, and a young fellow came swaggering in with the air of one who is the master.

He was a handsome, dashing young man of about the same age and build as McMurdo himself. Under his

broadbrimmed black felt hat, which he had not troubled to remove, a handsome face with fierce,

domineering eyes and a curved hawkbill of a nose looked savagely at the pair who sat by the stove.

Ettie had jumped to her feet full of confusion and alarm. "I'm glad to see you, Mr. Baldwin," said she.

Baldwin stood with his hands on his hips looking at McMurdo. "Who is this?" he asked curtly.

"It's a friend of mine, Mr. Baldwin, a new boarder here. Mr. McMurdo, may I introduce you to Mr.

"Didn't you? Well, you can understand it now. You can take it from me that this young lady is mine, and

"Aren't you?" The man's savage eyes were blazing with anger. "Maybe you are in a humour for a fight, Mr.

"That I am!" cried McMurdo, springing to his feet. "You never said a more welcome word."

"For God's sake, Jack! Oh, for God's sake!" cried poor distracted Ettie. "Oh, Jack, Jack, he will hurt youl"

"Oh, it's Jack, is it?" said Baldwin with an oath. "You've come to that already, have you?"

"Oh, Ted, be reasonable be kind! For my sake, Ted, if ever you loved me, be bighearted and forgiving!"

"I think, Ettie, that if you were to leave us alone we could get this thing settled," said McMurdo quietly. "Or

maybe, Mr. Baldwin, you will take a turn down the street with me. It's a fine evening, and there's some open

"I'll get even with you without needing to dirty my hands," said his enemy. "You'll wish you had never set

"I'll choose my own time, mister. You can leave the time to me. See here!" He suddenly rolled up his sleeve

and showed upon his forearm a peculiar sign which appeared to have been branded there. It was a circle with

"Well, you will know, I'll promise you that. You won't be much older, either. Perhaps Miss Ettie can tell you

something about it. As to you, Ettie, you'll come back to me on your knees d'ye hear, girl? on your

knees and then I'll tell you what your punishment may be. You've sowed and by the Lord, I'll see that

you reap!" He glanced at them both in fury. Then he turned upon his heel, and an instant later the outer door

For a few moments McMurdo and the girl stood in silence. Then she threw her arms around him.

"Oh, Jack, how brave you were! But it is no use, you must fly! Tonight Jack tonight! It's your only

hope. He will have your life. I read it in his horrible eyes. What chance have you against a dozen of them,

McMurdo disengaged her hands, kissed her, and gently pushed her back into a chair. "There, acushla, there!

Don't be disturbed or fear for me. I'm a Freeman myself. I'm after telling your father about it. Maybe I am no

better than the others; so don't make a saint of me. Perhaps you hate me too, now that I've told you as much?"

"Hate you, Jack? While life lasts I could never do that! I've heard that there is no harm in being a Freeman

anywhere but here; so why should I think the worse of you for that? But if you are a Freeman, Jack, why

should you not go down and make a friend of Boss McGinty? Oh, hurry, Jack, hurry! Get your word in first,

"I was thinking the same thing," said McMurdo. "I'll go right now and fix it. You can tell your father that I'll

The bar of McGinty's saloon was crowded as usual, for it was the favourite loafing place of all the rougher

elements of the town. The man was popular; for he had a rough, jovial disposi tion which formed a mask,

covering a great deal which lay behind it. But apart from this popularity, the fear in which he was held

throughout the township, and indeed down the whole thirty miles of the valley and past the mountains on

each side of it, was enough in itself to fill his bar; for none could afford to neglect his good will.

Besides those secret powers which it was universally believed that he exercised in so pitiless a fashion, he

was a high public official, a municipal councillor, and a commissioner of roads, elected to the office through

the votes of the ruffians who in turn expected to receive favours at his hands. Assessments and taxes were

enormous; the public works were notoriously neglected, the accounts were slurred over by bribed auditors,

and the decent citizen was terrorized into paying public blackmail, and holding his tongue lest some worse

Thus it was that, year by year, Boss McGinty's diamond pins became more obtrusive, his gold chains more

weighty across a more gorgeous vest, and his saloon stretched farther and farther, until it threatened to absorb

McMurdo pushed open the swinging door of the saloon and made his way amid the crowd of men within,

through an atmo sphere blurred with tobacco smoke and heavy with the smell of spirits. The place was

brilliantly lighted, and the huge, heavily gilt mirrors upon every wall reflected and multiplied the garish

illumination. There were several bartenders in their shirt sleeves, hard at work mixing drinks for the loungers

At the far end, with his body resting upon the bar and a cigar stuck at an acute angle from the corner of his

mouth, stood a tall, strong, heavily built man who could be none other than the famous McGinty himself. He

was a blackmaned giant, bearded to the cheekbones, and with a shock of raven hair which fell to his collar.

His complexion was as swarthy as that of an Italian, and his eyes were of a strange dead black, which,

All else in the man his noble proportions, his fine features, and his frank bearing fitted in with that

jovial, mantoman manner which he affected. Here. one would say, is a bluff, honest fellow, whose heart

would be sound however rude his outspoken words might seem. It was only when those dead, dark eyes, deep

and remorseless, were turned upon a man that he shrank within himself, feeling that he was face to face with

an infinite possibility of latent evil, with a strength and courage and cunning behind it which made it a

Having had a good look at his man, McMurdo elbowed his way forward with his usual careless audacity, and

pushed him self through the little group of courtiers who were fawning upon the powerful boss, laughing

uproariously at the smallest of his jokes. The young stranger's bold gray eyes looked back fear lessly

"I'm sorry, Councillor. I'm strange to the ways of the place. But I was advised to see you."

"Well, it's early days. If your heart is as big as your body, and your soul as fine as your face, then I'd ask for

"By Gar! you've got an Irish tongue in your head anyhow," cried the saloonkeeper, not quite certain whether

"Brother Scanlan of Lodge 341, Vermissa. I drink your health Councillor, and to our better acquaintance." He

raised a glass with which he had been served to his lips and elevated his little finger as he drank it.

McGinty, who had been watching him narrowly, raised his thick black eyebrows. "Oh, it's like that, is it?"

"A bit closer, Mr. McMurdo; for we don't take folk on trust in these parts, nor believe all we're told neither.

There was a small room there, lined with barrels. McGinty carefully closed the door, and then seated himself

on one of them, biting thoughtfully on his cigar and surveying his compan ion with those disquieting eyes.

For a couple of minutes he sat in complete silence. McMurdo bore the inspection cheerfully, one hand in his

coat pocket, the other twisting his brown mous tache. Suddenly McGinty stooped and produced a

"See here, my joker," said he, "if I thought you were playing any game on us, it would be short work for

"This is a strange welcome," McMurdo answered with some dignity, "for the Bodymaster of a lodge of

"Ay, but it's just that same that you have to prove," said McGinty, "and God help you if you fail! Where were

"Well, we may try you sooner than you think. Have you heard anything of the lodge in these parts?"

McGinty opened his eyes. He was not used to being answered in such fashion, and it amused him. "Why

"See here, mister, you can't expect me, as Bodymaster, to pass into the lodge a man for whose past he can't

McMurdo looked puzzled. Then he took a worn newspaper cutting from an inner pocket.

"I'll wipe my hand across your face if you say such words to me!" cried McGinty hotly.

"You are right, Councillor," said McMurdo meekly. "I should apologize. I spoke without thought. Well, I

McGinty glanced his eyes over the account of the shooting of one Jonas Pinto, in the Lake Saloon, Market

"I was helping Uncle Sam to make dollars. Maybe mine were not as good gold as his. but they looked as well

"Well, it means to pass the dollars out into circulation. Then he said he would split. Maybe he did split. I

" 'Cause I'd read in the papers that they weren't too particular in those parts."

McGinty laughed. "You were first a coiner and then a mur derer, and you came to these parts because you

McMurdo took half a dozen from his pocket. "Those never passed the Philadelphia mint," said he.

"You don't say!" McGinty held them to the light in his enormous hand, which was hairy as a gorilla's. "I can

see no difference. Gar! you'll be a mighty useful brother, I'm thinking! We can do with a bad man or two

among us, Friend McMurdo: for there are times when we have to take our own part. We'd soon be against the

"You seem to have a good nerve. You didn't squirm when I shoved this gun at you."

"It was you, Councillor." McMurdo drew a cocked pistol from the side pocket of his peajacket. "I was

"By Gar!" McGinty flushed an angry red and then burst into a roar of laughter. "Say, we've had no such holy

terror come to hand this many a year. I reckon the lodge will learn to be proud of you.... Well, what the hell

do you want? And can't I speak alone with a gentleman for five minutes but you must butt in on us?"

The bartender stood abashed. "I'm sorry, Councillor, but it's Ted Baldwin. He says he must see you this very

The message was unnecessary; for the set. cruel face of the man himself was looking over the servant's

"So," said he with a furious glance at McMurdo, "you got here first, did you? I've a word to say to you,

"Tut! Tut!" said McGinty, getting off his barrel. "This will never do. We have a new brother here, Baldwin,

and it's not for us to greet him in such fashion. Hold out your hand, man, and make it up!"

"I've offered to fight him if he thinks I have wronged him," said McMurdo. "I'll fight him with fists, or, if that

won't satisfy him, I'll fight him any other way he chooses. Now, I'll leave it to you, Councillor, to judge

"As between two brothers of the lodge I should say that she was," said the Boss.

"Yes, it is, Ted Baldwin," said McGinty, with a wicked stare. "Is it you that would dispute it?"

"You would throw over one that has stood by you this five years in favour of a man that you never saw before

in your life? You're not Bodymaster for life, Jack McGinty, and by God! when next it comes to a vote "

The Councillor sprang at him like a tiger. His hand closed round the other's neck, and he hurled him back

across one of the barrels. In his mad fury he would have squeezed the life out of him if McMurdo had not

"Easy, Councillor! For heaven's sake, go easy!" he cried, as he dragged him back.

McGinty released his hold, and Baldwin, cowed and shaken gasping for breath, and shivering in every limb,

as one who has looked over the very edge of death, sat up on the barrel over which he had been hurled.

"You've been asking for it this many a day, Ted Baldwin now you've got it!" cried McGinty, his huge

chest rising and falling. "Maybe you think if I was voted down from Bodymaster you would find yourself in

my shoes. It's for the lodge to say that. But so long as I am the chief I'll have no man lift his voice agalnst me

"Well, then," cried the other, relapsing in a moment into a bluff joviality, "we are all good friends again and

"See now," he continued, as he filled three high glasses "Let us drink the quarrelling toast of the lodge. After

that, as you know, there can be no bad blood between us. Now, then the left hand on the apple of my throat. I

The men drank their glasses, and the same ceremony was performed between Baldwin and McMurdo

"There!" cried McGinty, rubbing his hands. "That's the end of the black blood. You come under lodge

discipline if it goes further, and that's a heavy hand in these parts, as Brother Baldwin knows and as you

"Faith, I'd be slow to do that," said McMurdo. He held out his hand to Baldwin. "I'm quick to quarrel and

quick to forgive. It's my hot Irish blood, they tell me. But it's over for me, and I bear no grudge."

Baldwin had to take the proffered hand, for the baleful eye of the terrible Boss was upon him. But his sullen

McGinty clapped them both on the shoulders. "Tut! These girls! These girls!" he cried. "To think that the

same petticoats should come between two of my boys! It's the devil's own luck! Well, it's the colleen inside

of them that must settle the question for it's outside the jurisdiction of a Bodymaster and the Lord be

praised for that! We have enough on us, without the women as well. You'll have to be affiliated to Lodge

341, Brother McMurdo. We have our own ways and methods, different from Chicago. Saturday night is our

meeting, and if you come then, we'll make you free forever of the Vermissa Valley."

On the day following the evening which had contained so many exciting events, McMurdo moved his

lodgings from old Jacob Shafter's and took up his quarters at the Widow MacNamara's on the extreme

outskirts of the town. Scanlan, his original acquaintance aboard the train, had occasion shortly afterwards to

move into Vermissa, and the two lodged together. There was no other boarder, and the hostess was an

easygoing old Irishwoman who left them to themselves; so that they had a freedom for speech and action

Shafter had relented to the extent of letting McMurdo come to his meals there when he liked; so that his

intercourse with Ettie was by no means broken. On the contrary, it drew closer and more intimate as the

In his bedroom at his new abode McMurdo felt it safe to take out the coining moulds, and under many a

pledge of secrecy a number of brothers from the lodge were allowed to come in and see them, each carrying

away in his pocket some examples of the false money, so cunningly struck that there was never the slight est

difficulty or danger in passing it. Why, with such a wonder ful art at his command, McMurdo should

condescend to work at all was a perpetual mystery to his companions; though he made it clear to anyone who

asked him that if he lived without any visible means it would very quickly bring the police upon his track.

One policeman was indeed after him already; but the incident, as luck would have it, did the adventurer a

great deal more good than harm. After the first introduction there were few evenings when he did not find his

way to McGinty's saloon, there to make closer acquaintance with "the boys," which was the jovial title by

which the dangerous gang who infested the place were known to one another. His dashing manner and

fearlessness of speech made him a favourite with them all; while the rapid and scientific way in which he

polished off his antagonist in an "all in" barroom scrap earned the respect of that rough community. Another

Just at the crowded hour one night, the door opened and a man entered with the quiet blue uniforrn and

peaked cap of the mine police. This was a special body raised by the railways and colliery owners to

supplement the efforts of the ordinary civil police, who were perfectly helpless in the face of the organized

ruffianism which terrorized the district. There was a hush as he entered, and many a curious glance was cast

at him; but the relations between policemen and criminals are peculiar in some parts of the States, and

McGinty himself standing behind his counter, showed no surprise when the policeman enrolled him self

"A straight whisky, for the night is bitter," said the police officer. "I don't think we have met before,

"That's so. We're looking to you, Councillor, and to the other leading citizens, to help us in upholding law and

"We'd do better without you, Captain Marvin," said McGinty coldly; "for we have our own police of the

township, and no need for any imported goods. What are you but the paid tool of the capitalists, hired by

"Well, well, we won't argue about that," said the police officer goodhumouredly. "I expect we all do our

duty same as we see it; but we can't all see it the same." He had drunk off his glass and had turned to go,

when his eyes fell upon the face of Jack McMurdo, who was scowling at his elbow. "Hullo! Hullo!" he cried,

McMurdo shrank away from him. "I was never a friend to you nor any other cursed copper in my life," said

"An acquaintance isn't always a friend," said the police captain, grinning. "You're Jack McMurdo of Chicago,

McMurdo shrugged his shoulders. "I'm not denying it," said he. "D'ye think I'm ashamed of my own name?"

"No, no, Jack, bluster won't do with me. I was an officer in Chicago before ever I came to this darned coal

McMurdo's face fell. "Don't tell me that you're Marvin of the Chicago Central!" he cried.

"Just the same old Teddy Marvin, at your service. We haven't forgotten the shooting of Jonas Pinto up there."

"Did you not? That's good impartial evidence, ain't it? Well, his death came in uncommon handy for you, or

they would have had you for shoving the queer. Well, we can let that be bygones; for, between you and me

and perhaps I'm going further than my duty in saying it they could get no clear case against you, and

"Well, I've given you the pointer, and you're a sulky dog not to thank me for it."

"Well, I suppose you mean well, and I do thank you," said McMurdo in no very gracious manner.

"It's mum with me so long as I see you living on the straight," said the captain. "But, by the Lord! if you get

off after this, it's another story! So goodnight to you and good night, Councillor."

He left the barroom; but not before he had created a local hero. McMurdo's deeds in far Chicago had been

whispered before. He had put off all questions with a smile, as one who did not wish to have greatness thrust

upon him. But now the thing was officially confirmed. The bar loafers crowded round him and shook him

heartily by the hand. He was free of the community from that time on. He could drink hard and show little

trace of it; but that evening, had his mate Scanlan not been at hand to lead him home, the feted hero would

On a Saturday night McMurdo was introduced to the lodge. He had thought to pass in without ceremony as

being an initiate of Chicago; but there were particular rites in Vermissa of which they were proud, and these

had to be undergone by every postulant. The assembly met in a large room reserved for such purposes at the

Union House. Some sixty members assembled at Vermissa; but that by no means represented the full strength

of the organization, for there were several other lodges in the valley, and others across the mountains on each

side, who exchanged members when any serious business was afoot, so that a crime might be done by men

who were strangers to the locality. Altogether there were not less than five hundred scat tered over the coal

In the bare assembly room the men were gathered round a long table. At the side was a second one laden with

bottles and glasses, on which some members of the company were already turning their eyes. McGinty sat at

the head with a flat black velvet cap upon his shock of tangled black hair, and a coloured purple stole round

his neck, so that he seemed to be a priest presiding over some diabolical ritual. To right and left of him were

the higher lodge officials, the cruel, handsome face of Ted Baldwin among them. Each of these wore some

They were, for the most part, men of mature age; but the rest of the company consisted of young fellows from

eighteen to twenty five, the ready and capable agents who carried out the commands of their seniors.

Among the older men were many whose features showed the tigerish, lawless souls within; but looking at the

rank and file it was difficult to believe that these eager and openfaced young fellows were in very truth a

dangerous gang of murderers, whose minds had suffered such complete moral perversion that they took a

horrible pride in their proficiency at the business, and looked with deepest respect at the man who had the

To their contorted natures it had become a spirited and chival rous thing to volunteer for service against

some man who had never injured them, and whom in many cases they had never seen in their lives. The

crime committed, they quarrelled as to who had actually struck the fatal blow, and amused one another and

At first they had shown some secrecy in their arrangements; but at the time which this narrative describes

their proceedings were extraordinarily open, for the repeated failures of the law had proved to them that, on

the one hand, no one would dare to witness against them, and on the other they had an unlimited number of

stanch witnesses upon whom they could call, and a wellfilled treasure chest from which they could draw the

funds to engage the best legal talent in the state. In ten long years of outrage there had been no single

conviction, and thc only danger that ever threatened the Scowrers lay in the victim himself who, however

outnumbered and taken by surprise, might and occasionally did leave his mark upon his assailants.

McMurdo had been warned that some ordeal lay before him; but no one would tell him in what it consisted.

He was led now into an outer room by two solemn brothers. Through the plank partition he could hear the

murmur of many voices from the assembly within. Once or twice he caught the sound of his own name, and

he knew that they were discussing his candidacy. Then there entered an inner guard with a green and gold

"The Bodymaster orders that he shall be trussed, blinded, and entered," said he.

The three of them removed his coat, turned up the sleeve of his right arm, and finally passed a rope round

above the elbows and made it fast. They next placed a thick black cap right over his head and the upper part

of his face, so that he could see nothing. He was then led into the assembly hall.

It was pitch dark and very oppressive under his hood. He heard the rustle and murmur of the people round

him, and then the voice of McGinty sounded dull and distant through the covering of his ears.

"John McMurdo," said the voice, "are you already a member of the Ancient Order of Freemen?"

"We know, Brother, by your sign and by your countersign that you are indeed one of us," said McGinty. "We

would have you know, however, that in this county and in other counties of these parts we have certain rites,

and also certain duties of our own which call for good men. Are you ready to be tested?"

As the words were said he felt two hard points in front of his eyes, pressing upon them so that it appeared as

if he could not move forward without a danger of losing them. None the less. he nerved himself to step

resolutely out, and as he did so the pressure melted away. There was a low murmur of applause.

It was all he could do to keep himself from screaming out, for an agonizing pain shot through his forearm. He

nearly fainted at the sudden shock of it; but he bit his lip and clenched his hands to hide his agony.

This time there was loud applause. A finer first appearance had never been made in the lodge. Hands clapped

him on the back, and the hood was plucked from his head. He stood blink ing and smiling amid the

"One last word, Brother McMurdo," said McGinty. "You have already sworn the oath of secrecy and fidelity,

and you are aware that the punishment for any breach of it is instant and inevitable death?"

"And you accept the rule of the Bodymaster for the time being under all circumstances?"

"Then in the name of Lodge 341, Vemmissa, I welcome you to its privileges and debates. You will put the

McMurdo's coat had been brought to him; but before putting it on he examined his right arm, which still

smarted heavily. There on the flesh of the forearm was a circle with a triangle within it, deep and red, as the

branding iron had left it. One or two of his neighbours pulled up their sleeves and showed their own lodge

When the drinks which followed the ceremony of initiation had all been disposed of, the business of the lodge

proceeded. McMurdo, accustomed only to the prosaic performances of Chi cago, listened with open ears

"The first business on the agenda paper," said McGinty, "is to read the following letter from Division Master

"Windle has never refused us when we have had occasion to ask for the loan of a man or two, and it is not for

us to refuse him." McGinty paused and looked round the room with his dull, malevolent eyes. "Who will

Several young fellows held up their hands. The Bodymaster looked at them with an approving smile.

"You'll do, Tiger Cormac. If you handle it as well as you did the last, you won't be wrong. And you, Wilson."

"It's your first, is it not? Well, you have to be blooded some time. It will be a great start for you. As to the

pistol, you'll find it waiting for you, or I'm mistaken. If you report yourselves on Monday, it will be time

"Any reward this time?" asked Cormac, a thickset, dark faced, brutallooking young man, whose ferocity

"Never mind the reward. You just do it for the honour of the thing. Maybe when it is done there will be a few

"Sure, it's not for the likes of you to ask what the man has done. He has been judged over there. That's no

business of ours. All we have to do is to carry it out for them, same as they would for us. Speaking of that,

two brothers from the Merton lodge are coming over to us next week to do some business in this quarter."

"Faith, it is wiser not to ask. If you know nothing, you can testify nothing, and no trouble can come of it. But

"And time, too!" cried Ted Baldwin. " Folk are gettin' out of hand in these parts. It was only last week that

three of our men were turned off by Foreman Blaker. It's been owing him a long time, and he'll get it full and

"The business end of a buckshot cartridge!" cried the man with a loud laugh. "What think you of our ways,

McMurdo's criminal soul seemed to have already absorbed the spirit of the vile association of which he was

now a member. "I like it well," said he. " 'Tis a proper place for a lad of mettle."

McMurdo rose to his feet for an instant. "I would say, Eminent Bodymaster, that if a man should be wanted I

There was great applause at this. It was felt that a new sun was pushing its rim above the horizon. To some of

"I would move," said the secretary, Harraway, a vulture faced old graybeard who sat near the chairman,

"that Brother McMurdo should wait until it is the good pleasure of the lodge to employ him."

"Your time will come, Brother," said the chairman. "We have marked you down as a willing man, and we

believe that you will do good work in these parts. There is a small matter tonight in which you may take a

"You can come tonight, anyhow, and it will help you to know what we stand for in this community. I will

make the announcement later. Meanwhile," he glanced at his agenda pa per, "I have one or two more points

to bring before the meeting. First of all, I will ask the treasurer as to our bank balance. There is the pension to

Jim Carnaway's widow. He was struck down doing the work of the lodge, and it is for us to see that she is not

"Jim was shot last month when they tried to kill Chester Wilcox of Marley Creek," McMurdo's neighbour

"The funds are good at the moment," said the treasurer, with the bankbook in front of him. "The firms have

been generous of late. Max Linder Co. paid five hundred to be left alone. Walker Brothers sent in a hundred;

but I took it on myself to return it and ask for five. If I do not hear by Wednesday, their winding gear may get

out of order. We had to burn their breaker last year before they became reasonable. Then the West Section

Coaling Company has paid its annual contribution. We have enough on hand to meet any obligations."

"He has sold out and left the district. The old devil left a note for us to say that he had rather be a free

crossing sweeper in New York than a large mine owner under the power of a ring of blackmailers. By Gar! it

was as well that he made a break for it before the note reached us! I guess he won't show his face in this

An elderly, cleanshaved man with a kindly face and a good brow rose from the end of the table which faced

the chairman. "Mr. Treasurer," he asked, "may I ask who has bought the property of this man that we have

"Yes, Brother Morris. It has been bought by the State Merton County Railroad Company."

"And who bought the mines of Todman and of Lee that came into the market in the same way last year?"

"And who bought the ironworks of Manson and of Shuman and of Van Deher and of Atwood, which have all

"I don't see, Brother Morris," said the chairman, "that it matters to us who buys them, since they can't carry

"With all respect to you, Eminent Bodymaster, I think it may matter very much to us. This process has been

going on now for ten long years. We are gradually driving all the small men out of trade. What is the result?

We find in their places great companies like the Railroad or the General Iron, who have their directors in

New York or Philadelphia, and care nothing for our threats. We can take it out of their local bosses, but it

only means that others will be sent in their stead. And we are making it dangerous for ourselves. The small

men could not harm us. They had not the money nor the power. So long as we did not squeeze them too dry,

they would stay on under our power. But if these big companies find that we stand between them and their

profits, they will spare no pains and no expense to hunt us down and bring us to court."

There was a hush at these ominous words, and every face darkened as gloomy looks were exchanged. So

omnipotent and unchallenged had they been that the very thought that there was possible retribution in the

background had been banished from their minds. And yet the idea struck a chill to the most reckless of them.

"It is my advice," the speaker continued, "that we go easier upon the small men. On the day that they have all

Unwelcome truths are not popular. There were angry cries as the speaker resumed his seat. McGinty rose

"Brother Morris," said he, "you were always a croaker. So long as the members of this lodge stand together

there is no power in the United States that can touch them. Sure, have we not tried it often enough in the law

courts? I expect the big companies will find it easier to pay than to fight, same as the little companies do. And

now, Brethren," McGinty took off his black velvet cap and his stole as he spoke, "this lodge has finished its

business for the evening, save for one small matter which may be mentioned when we are parting. The time

Strange indeed is human nature. Here were these men, to whom murder was familiar, who again and again

had struck down the father of the family, some man against whom they had no personal feeling, without one

thought of compunction or of compassion for his weeping wife or helpless children, and yet the tender or

pathetic in music could move them to tears. McMurdo had a fine tenor voice, and if he had failed to gain the

good will of the lodge before, it could no longer have been withheld after he had thrilled them with "I'm

In his very first night the new recruit had made himself one of the most popular of the brethren, marked

already for advance ment and high office. There were other qualities needed, how ever. besides those of

good fellowship. to make a worthy Freeman, and of these he was given an example before the evening was

over. The whisky bottle had passed round many times, and the men were flushed and ripe for mischief when

"Boys," said he, "there's one man in this town that wants trimming up, and it's for you to see that he gets it.

I'm speaking of James Stanger of the Herald. You've seen how he's been opening his mouth against us

There was a murmur of assent, with many a muttered oath. McGinty took a slip of paper from his waistcoat

we to endure it? Can we forever live Sure, I've read enough of the slush!" cried the chairman, tossing the

paper down upon the table. "That's what he says of us. The question I'm asking you is what shall we say to

"I protest against that," said Brother Morris, the man of the good brow and shaved face. "I tell you, Brethren,

that our hand is too heavy in this valley, and that there will come a point where in selfdefense every man

will unite to crush us out. James Stanger is an old man. He is respected in the township and the district. His

paper stands for all that is solid in the valley. If that man is struck down, there will be a stir through this state

"And how would they bring about our destruction, Mr. Standback?" cried McGinty. "Is it by the police? Sure,

half of them are in our pay and half of them afraid of us. Or is it by the law courts and the judge? Haven't we

"I have but to raise my finger," cried McGinty, "and I could put two hundred men into this town that would

clear it out from end to end." Then suddenly raising his voice and bending his huge black brows into a

terrible frown, "See here, Brother Morris, I have my eye on you, and have had for some time! You've no heart

yourself, and you try to take the heart out of others. It will be an ill day for you, Brother Morris, when your

own name comes on our agenda paper, and I'm thinking that it's just there that I ought to place it."

Morris had turned deadly pale, and his knees seemed to give way under him as he fell back into his chair. He

raised his glass in his trembling hand and drank before he could answer. "I apologize, Eminent Bodymaster,

to you and to every brother in this lodge if I have said more than I should. I am a faithful member you all

know that and it is my fear lest evil come to the lodge which makes me speak in anxious words. But I

have greater trust in your judgment than in my own, Eminent Bodymaster, and I promise you that I will not

The Bodymaster's scowl relaxed as he listened to the humble words. "Very good, Brother Morris. It's myself

that would be sorry if it were needful to give you a lesson. But so long as I am in this chair we shall be a

united lodge in word and in deed. And now, boys," he continued, looking round at the company, "I'll say this

much, that if Stanger got his full deserts there would be more trouble than we need ask for. These editors

hang together, and every journal in the state would be crying out for police and troops. But I guess you can

"Half a dozen, and two to guard the door. You'll come, Gower, and you, Mansel. and you, Scanlan, and the

Ted Baldwin looked at McMurdo with eyes which showed that he had not forgotten nor forgiven. "Well, he

can come if he wants," he said in a surly voice. "That's enough. The sooner we get to work the better."

The company broke up with shouts and yells and snatches of drunken song. The bar was still crowded with

revellers, and many of the brethren remained there. The little band who had been told off for duty passed out

into the street, proceeding in twos and threes along the sidewalk so as not to provoke atten tion. It was a

bitterly cold night, with a halfmoon shining brilliantly in a frosty, starspangled sky. The men stopped and

gathered in a yard which faced a high building. The words "Vemmissa Herald" were printed in gold lettering

between the brightly lit windows. From within came the clanking of the printing press.

"Here, you," said Baldwin to McMurdo, "you can stand below at the door and see that the road is kept open

for us. Arthur Willaby can stay with you. You others come with me. Have no fears, boys; for we have a

It was nearly midnight, and the street was deserted save for one or two revellers upon their way home. The

party crossed the road, and, pushing open the door of the newspaper office, Baldwin and his men rushed in

and up the stair which faced them. McMurdo and another remained below. From the room above came a

shout, a cry for help, and then the sound of trampling feet and of falling chairs. An instant later a grayhaired

He was seized before he could get farther, and his spectacles came tinkling down to McMurdo's feet. There

was a thud and a groan. He was on his face, and half a dozen sticks were clatter ing together as they fell

upon him. He writhed, and his long, thin limbs quivered under the blows. The others ceased at last; but

Baldwin, his cruel face set in an infernal smile, was hacking at the man's head, which he vainly endeavoured

to defend with his arms. His white hair was dabbled with patches of blood. Bald win was still stooping over

his victim, putting in a short, vicious blow whenever he could see a part exposed, when McMurdo dashed up

Baldwin looked at him in amazement. "Curse you!" he cried. "Who are you to interfere you that are new

to the lodge? Stand back!" He raised his stick; but McMurdo had whipped his pistol out of his hip pocket.

"Stand back yourself!" he cried. "I'll blow your face in if you lay a hand on me. As to the lodge, wasn't it the

order of the Bodymaster that the man was not to be killed and what are you doing but killing him?"

"By Gar! you'd best hurry yourselves!" cried the man below. "The windows are all lighting up, and you'll

There was indeed the sound of shouting in the street, and a little group of compositors and pressmen was

forming in the hall below and nerving itself to action. Leaving the limp and motion less body of the editor at

the head of the stair, the criminals rushed down and made their way swiftly along the street. Having reached

the Union House, some of them mixed with the crowd in McGinty's saloon, whispering across the bar to the

Boss that the job had been well carried through. Others, and among them McMurdo, broke away into side

When McMurdo awoke next morning he had good reason to remember his initiation into the lodge. His head

ached with the effect of the drink, and his arm, where he had been branded, was hot and swollen. Having his

own peculiar source of income, he was irregular in his attendance at his work; so he had a late breakfast, and

remained at home for the morning writing a long letter to a friend. Afterwards he read the Daily Herald. In a

It was a short account of the facts with which he was himself more familiar than the writer could have been.

Below it stated that a guard of police, armed with Winchester rifles, had been requisitioned for the defense of

McMurdo had laid down the paper, and was lighting his pipe with a hand which was shaky from the excesses

of the previous evening, when there was a knock outside, and his landlady brought to him a note which had

McMurdo read the note twice with the utmost surprise; for he could not imagine what it meant or who was

the author of it. Had it been in a feminine hand, he might have imagined that it was the beginning of one of

those adventures which had been familiar enough in his past life. But it was the writing of a man, and of a

well educated one, too. Finally, after some hesitation, he determined to see the matter through.

Miller Hill is an illkept public park in the very centre of the town. In summer it is a favourite resort of the

people; but in winter it is desolate enough. From the top of it one has a view not only of the whole straggling,

grimy town, but of the winding valley beneath, with its scattered mines and factories blackening the snow on

McMurdo strolled up the winding path hedged in with ever greens until he reached the deserted restaurant

which forms the centre of summer gaiety. Beside it was a bare flagstaff, and underneath it a man, his hat

drawn down and the collar of his overcoat turned up. When he turned his face McMurdo saw that it was

Brother Morris, he who had incurred the anger of the Bodymaster the night before. The lodge sign was given

"I wanted to have a word with you, Mr. McMurdo," said the older man, speaking with a hesitation which

"One has to be cautious, mister. One never knows in times like these how a thing may come back to one. One

"No, no, not always," cried Morris with vehemence. "What ever we say, even what we think, seems to go

"Look here!" said McMurdo sternly. "It was only last night, as you know well, that I swore good faith to our

"If that is the view you take," said Morris sadly, "I can only say that I am sorry I gave you the trouble to come

and meet me. Things have come to a bad pass when two free citizens cannot speak their thoughts to each

McMurdo, who had been watching his companion very nar rowly, relaxed somewhat in his bearing. "Sure I

spoke for myself only," said he. "I am a newcomer, as you know, and I am strange to it all. It is not for me to

open my mouth, Mr. Morris, and if you think well to say anything to me I am here to hear it."

"Indeed, then, you do me injustice there," cried McMurdo. "For myself I am loyal to the lodge, and so l tell

you straight; but I would be a poor creature if I were to repeat to any other what you might say to me in

confidence. It will go no further than me; though I warn you that you may get neither help nor sympathy."

"I have given up looking for either the one or the other," said Morris. "I may be putting my very life in your

hands by what I say; but, bad as you are and it seemed to me last night that you were shaping to be as bad

as the worst still you are new to it, and your conscience cannot yet be as hardened as theirs. That was why

"I would ask you, then, when you joined the Freeman's society in Chicago and swore vows of charity and

fidelity, did ever it cross your mind that you might find it would lead you to crime?"

"Call it crime!" cried Morris, his voice vibrating with pas sion. "You have seen little of it if you can call it

anything else. Was it crime last night when a man old enough to be your father was beaten till the blood

"There are some would say it was war," said McMurdo, "a war of two classes with all in, so that each struck

"Well, did you think of such a thing when you joined the Freeman's society at Chicago?"

"Nor did I when I joined it at Philadelphia. It was just a benefit club and a meeting place for one's fellows.

Then I heard of this place curse the hour that the name first fell upon my ears! and I came to better

myself! My God! to better myself! My wife and three children came with me. I started a drygoods store on

Market Square, and I prospered well. The word had gone round that I was a Freeman, and I was forced to join

the local lodge, same as you did last night. I've the badge of shame on my forearm and something worse

branded on my heart. I found that I was under the orders of a black villain and caught in a meshwork of

crime. What could I do? Every word I said to make things better was taken as treason, same as it was last

night. I can't get away; for all I have in the world is in my store. If I leave the society, I know well that it

means murder to me, and God knows what to my wife and children. Oh, man, it is awful awful!" He put

McMurdo shrugged his shoulders. "You were too soft for the job," said he. "You are the wrong sort for such

"I had a conscience and a religion; but they made me a criminal among them. I was chosen for a job. If I

backed down I knew well what would come to me. Maybe I'm a coward. Maybe it's the thought of my poor

little woman and the children that makes me one. Anyhow I went. I guess it will haunt me forever.

"It was a lonely house, twenty miles from here, over the range yonder. I was told off for the door, same as

you were last night. They could not trust me with the job. The others went in. When they came out their

hands were crimson to the wrists. As we turned away a child was screaming out of the house behind us. It

was a boy of five who had seen his father murdered. I nearly fainted with the horror of it, and yet I had to

keep a bold and smiling face; for well I knew that if I did not it would be out of my house that they would

come next with their bloody hands and it would be my little Fred that would be screaming for his father.

"But I was a criminal then, part sharer in a murder, lost forever in this world, and lost also in the next. I am a

good Catholic; but the priest would have no word with me when he heard I was a Scowrer, and I am

excommunicated from my faith. That's how it stands with me. And T see you going down the same road, and

I ask you what the end is to be. Are you ready to be a coldblooded murderer also, or can we do anything to

"That's well," said McMurdo. "I'm thinking that you are a weak man and that you make too much of the

"Too much! Wait till you have lived here longer. Look down the valley! See the cloud of a hundred chimneys

that overshad ows it! I tell you that the cloud of murder hangs thicker and lower than that over the heads of

the people. It is the Valley of Fear, the Valley of Death. The terror is in the hearts of the people from the dusk

"Well, I'll let you know what I think when I have seen more," said McMurdo carelessly. "What is very clear

is that you are not the man for the place, and that the sooner you sell out if you only get a dime a dollar for

what the business is worth the better it will be for you. What you have said is safe with me; but, by Gar! if

"Well, let it rest at that. I'll bear what you have said in mind, and maybe some day I'll come back to it. I

"One word before you go," said Morris. "We may have been seen together. They may want to know what we

"And I refuse it. That's our business. Well, so long, Brother Morris, and may you find things go better with

That same afternoon, as McMurdo sat smoking, lost in thought beside the stove of his sittingroom, the door

swung open and its framework was filled with the huge figure of Boss McGinty. He passed the sign, and then

seating himself opposite to the young man he looked at him steadily for some time, a look which was as

"I'm not much of a visitor, Brother McMurdo," he said at last. "I guess I am too busy over the folk that visit

me. But I thought I'd stretch a point and drop down to see you in your own house."

"I'm proud to see you here, Councillor," McMurdo answered heartily, bringing his whisky bottle out of the

McMurdo made a wry face. "Well, I'm not forgetting it," he said; "but it's worth it."

"Yes, it's worth it," the other answered, "to those that are loyal and go through with it and are a help to the

lodge. What were you speaking to Brother Morris about on Miller Hill this morning?"

The question came so suddenly that it was well that he had his answer prepared. He burst into a hearty laugh.

"Morris didn't know I could earn a living here at home. He shan't know either; for he has got too much

conscience for the likes of me. But he's a goodhearted old chap. It was his idea that I was at a loose end, and

that he would do me a good turn by offering me a clerkship in a drygoods store."

"Sure. Couldn't I earn ten times as much in my own bedroom with four hours' work?"

"Well, I guess because I tell you not. That's enough for most folk in these parts."

"It may be enough for most folk; but it ain't enough for me, Councillor," said McMurdo boldly. "If you are a

The swarthy giant glared at him, and his hairy paw closed for an instant round the glass as though he would

hurl it at the head of his companion. Then he laughed in his loud, boisterous, insincere fashion.

"You're a queer card, for sure," said he. "Well, if you want reasons, I'll give them. Did Morris say nothing to

"Well, that's because he daren't trust you. But in his heart he is not a loyal brother. We know that well. So we

watch him and we wait for the time to admonish him. I'm thinking that the time is drawing near. There's no

room for scabby sheep in our pen. But if you keep company with a disloyal man, we might think that you

"There's no chance of my keeping company with him; for I dislike the man," McMurdo answered. "As to

being disloyal, if it was any man but you he would not use the word to me twice."

"Well, that's enough," said McGinty, draining off his glass. "I came down to give you a word in season, and

"I'd like to know," said McMurdo, "how you ever came to learn that I had spoken with Morris at all?"

McGinty laughed. "It's my business to know what goes on in this township," said he. "I guess you'd best

But his leavetaking was cut short in a very unexpected fash ion. With a sudden crash the door flew open,

and three frown ing, intent faces glared in at them from under the peaks of police caps. McMurdo sprang to

his feet and half drew his revolver; but his arm stopped midway as he became conscious that two Win

chester rifles were levelled at his head. A man in uniform advanced into the room, a sixshooter in his hand.

It was Captain Marvin, once of Chicago, and now of the Mine Constabulary. He shook his head with a

"I thought you'd be getting into trouble, Mr. Crooked McMurdo of Chicago," said he. "Can't keep out of it,

"I guess you'll pay for this, Captain Marvin," said McGinty. "Who are you, I'd like to know, to break into a

"You're standing out in this deal, Councillor McGinty," said the police captain. "We are not out after you, but

"By all accounts, Mr. McGinty, you may have to answer for your own conduct some of these days," the

captain answered. "This man McMurdo was a crook before ever he came here, and he's a crook still. Cover

"There's my pistol," said McMurdo coolly. "Maybe, Cap tain Marvin, if you and I were alone and face to

"Where's your warrant?" asked McGinty. "By Gar! a man might as well live in Russia as in Vemmissa while

folk like you are running the police. It's a capitalist outrage, and you'll hear more of it, I reckon."

"You do what you think is your duty the best way you can, Councillor. We'll look after ours."

"Of being concerned in the beating of old Editor Stanger at the Herald office. It wasn't your fault that it isn't a

"Well, if that's all you have against him," cried McGinty with a laugh, "you can save yourself a deal of

trouble by dropping it right now. This man was with me in my saloon playing poker up to midnight, and I can

"That's your affair, and I guess you can settle it in court tomorrow. Meanwhile, come on, McMurdo, and

come quietly if you don't want a gun across your head. You stand wide, Mr. McGinty; for I warn you I will

So determined was the appearance of the captain that both McMurdo and his boss were forced to accept the

situation. The latter managed to have a few whispered words with the prisoner before they parted.

"All right," whispered McMurdo, who had devised a safe hiding place under the floor.

"I'll bid you goodbye," said the Boss, shaking hands. "I'll see Reilly the lawyer and take the defense upon

"I wouldn't bet on that. Guard the prisoner, you two, and shoot him if he tries any games. I'll search the house

He did so; but apparently found no trace of the concealed plant. When he had descended he and his men

escorted McMurdo to headquarters. Darkness had fallen, and a keen blizzard was blowing so that the streets

were nearly deserted; but a few loiterers followed the group, and emboldened by invisibility shouted

"Lynch the cursed Scowrer!" they cried. "Lynch him!" They laughed and jeered as he was pushed into the

police station. After a short, formal examination from the inspector in charge he was put into the common

cell. Here he found Baldwin and three other criminals of the night before, all arrested that afternoon and

But even within this inner fortress of the law the long arm of the Freemen was able to extend. Late at night

there came a jailer with a straw bundle for their bedding, out of which he extracted two bottles of whisky,

some glasses, and a pack of cards. They spent a hilarious night, without an anxious thought as to the ordeal of

Nor had they cause, as the result was to show. The magistrate could not possibly, on the evidence, have held

them for a higher court. On the one hand the compositors and pressmen were forced to admit that the light

was uncertain, that they were themselves much perturbed, and that it was difficult for them to swear to the

identity of the assailants; although they believed that the accused were among them. Cross examined by the

clever attorney who had been engaged by McGinty, they were even more nebulous in their evidence.

The injured man had already deposed that he was so taken by surprise by the suddenness of the attack that he

could state nothing beyond the fact that the first man who struck him wore a moustache. He added that he

knew them to be Scowrers, since no one else in the community could possibly have any enmity to him, and

he had long been threatened on account of his outspo ken editorials. On the other hand, it was clearly shown

by the united and unfaltering evidence of six citizens, including that high municipal official, Councillor

McGinty, that the men had been at a card party at the Union House until an hour very much later than the

Needless to say that they were discharged with something very near to an apology from the bench for the

inconvenience to which they had been put, together with an implied censure of Captain Marvin and the police

The verdict was greeted with loud applause by a court in which McMurdo saw many familiar faces. Brothers

of the lodge smiled and waved. But there were others who sat with com pressed lips and brooding eyes as

the men filed out of the dock. One of them, a little, darkbearded, resolute fellow, put the thoughts of himself

If anything had been needed to give an impetus to Jack McMur do's popularity among his fellows it would

have been his arrest and acquittal. That a man on the very night of joining the lodge should have done

something which brought him before the magistrate was a new record in the annals of the society. Already he

had earned the reputation of a good boon companion, a cheery reveller, and withal a man of high temper, who

would not take an insult even from the allpowerful Boss himself. But in addition to this he impressed his

comrades with the idea that among them all there was not one whose brain was so ready to devise a

bloodthirsty scheme, or whose hand would be more capable of carrying it out. "He'll be the boy for the clean

job," said the oldsters to one another, and waited their time until they could set him to his work.

McGinty had instruments enough already; but he recognized that this was a supremely able one. He felt like a

man holding a fierce bloodhound in leash. There were curs to do the smaller work; but some day he would

slip this creature upon its prey. A few members of the lodge, Ted Baldwin among them, resented the rapid

rise of the stranger and hated him for it; but they kept clear of him, for he was as ready to fight as to laugh.

But if he gained favour with his fellows, there was another quarter, one which had become even more vital to

him, in which he lost it. Ettie Shafter's father would have nothing more to do with him, nor would he allow

him to enter the house. Ettie herself was too deeply in love to give him up altogether, and yet her own good

sense warned her of what would come from a marriage with a man who was regarded as a criminal.

One morning after a sleepless night she determined to see him, possibly for the last time, and make one

strong endeavour to draw him from those evil influences which were sucking him down. She went to his

house, as he had often begged her to do, and made her way into the room which he used as his sitting room.

He was seated at a table, with his back turned and a letter in front of him. A sudden spirit of girlish mischief

came over her she was still only nineteen. He had not heard her when she pushed open the door. Now she

If she had expected to startle him, she certainly succeeded; but only in turn to be startled herself. With a tiger

spring he turned on her, and his right hand was feeling for her throat. At the same instant with the other hand

he crumpled up the paper that lay before him. For an instant he stood glaring. Then astonishment and joy

took the place of the ferocity which had convulsed his features a ferocity which had sent her shrinking

back in horror as from something which had never before intruded into her gentle life.

"It's you!" said he, mopping his brow. "And to think that you should come to me, heart of my heart, and I

should find nothing better to do than to want to strangle you! Come then, darling," and he held out his arms,

But she had not recovered from that sudden glimpse of guilty fear which she had read in the man's face. All

her woman's instinct told her that it was not the mere fright of a man who is startled. Guilt that was it

"What's come over you, lack?" she cried. "Why were you so scared of me? Oh, Jack, if your conscience was

"Sure, I was thinking of other things, and when you came tripping so lightly on those fairy feet of yours "

"No, no, it was more than that, Jack." Then a sudden suspi cion seized her. "Let me see that letter you were

Her suspicions became certainties. "It's to another woman," she cried. "I know it! Why else should you hold it

from me? Was it to your wife that you were writing? How am I to know that you are not a married man

"I am not married, Ettie. See now, I swear it! You're the only one woman on earth to me. By the cross of

"I'll tell you, acushla," said he. "I'm under oath not to show it, and just as I wouldn't break my word to you so

I would keep it to those who hold my promise. It's the business of the lodge, and even to you it's secret. And

if I was scared when a hand fell on me, can't you understand it when it might have been the hand of a

She felt that he was telling the truth. He gathered her into his arms and kissed away her fears and doubts.

"Sit here by me, then. It's a queer throne for such a queen; but it's the best your poor lover can find. He'll do

better for you some of these days, I'm thinking. Now your mind is easy once again, is it not?"

"How can it ever be at ease, Jack, when I know that you are a criminal among criminals, when I never know

the day that I may hear you are in court for murder? 'McMurdo the Scowrer,' that's what one of oor boarders

"Well, dear, it's not so bad as you think. We are but poor men that are trying in our own way to get our

Ettie threw her arms round her lover's neck. "Give it up, Jack! For my sake, for God's sake, give it up! It was

to ask you that I came here today. Oh, Jack, see I beg it of you on my bended knees! Kneeling here

"Sure, my darlin', you don't know what it is you are asking. How could I give it up when it would be to break

my oath and to desert my comrades? If you could see how things stand with me you could never ask it of me.

Besides, if I wanted to, how could I do it? You don't suppose that the lodge would let a man go free with all

"I've thought of that, Jack. I've planned it all. Father has saved some money. He is weary of this place where

the fear of these people darkens our lives. He is ready to go. We would fly together to Philadelphia or New

McMurdo laughed. "The lodge has a long arm. Do you think it could not stretch from here to Philadelphia or

"Well, then, to the West, or to England, or to Germany, where father came from anywhere to get away

McMurdo thought of old Brother Morris. "Sure, it is the second time I have heard the valley so named," said

"It darkens every moment of our lives. Do you suppose that Ted Baldwin has ever forgiven us? If it were not

that he fears you, what do you suppose our chances would be? If you saw the look in those dark, hungry eyes

"By Gar! I'd teach him better manners if I caught him at it! But see here, little girl. I can't leave here. I can't

take that from me once and for all. But if you will leave me to find my own way, I will try to prepare a

"Well, well, it's just how you look at it. But if you'll give me six months, I'll work it so that I can leave

"Well, it may be seven or eight. But within a year at the furthest we will leave the valley behind us."

It was the most that Ettie could obtain, and yet it was some thing. There was this distant light to illuminate

the gloom of the immediate future. She returned to her father's house more light hearted than she had ever

It might be thought that as a member, all the doings of the society would be told to him; but he was soon to

discover that the organization was wider and more complex than the simple lodge. Even Boss McGinty was

ignorant as to many things; for there was an official named the County Delegate, living at Hobson's Patch

farther down the line, who had power over several different lodges which he wielded in a sudden and arbi

trary way. Only once did McMurdo see him, a sly, little gray haired rat of a man, with a slinking gait and a

sidelong glance which was charged with malice. Evans Pott was his name, and even the great Boss of

Vermissa felt towards him something of the repulsion and fear which the huge Danton may have felt for the

One day Scanlan, who was McMurdo's fellow boarder, re ceived a note from McGinty inclosing one from

Evans Pott, which informed him that he was sending over two good men Lawler and Andrews, who had

instructions to act in the neighbourhood; though it was best for the cause that no particu lars as to their

objects should be given. Would the Bodymaster see to it that suitable arrangements be made for their

lodgings and comfort until the time for action should arrive? McGinty added that it was impossible for

anyone to remain secret at the Union House, and that, therefore, he would be obliged if McMurdo and

The same evening the two men arrived, each carrying his gripsack. Lawler was an elderly man, shrewd,

silent, and self contained, clad in an old black frock coat, which with his soft felt hat and ragged, grizzled

beard gave him a general resem blance to an itinerant preacher. His companion Andrews was little more

than a boy, frankfaced and cheerful, with the breezy manner of one who is out for a holiday and means to

enjoy every minute of it. Both men were total abstainers, and behaved in all ways as exemplary members of

the society, with the one simple exception that they were assassins who had often proved them selves to be

most capable instruments for this association of murder. Lawler had already carried out fourteen commissions

They were, as McMurdo found, quite ready to converse about their deeds in the past, which they recounted

with the half bashful pride of men who had done good and unselfish service for the community. They were

"They chose us because neither I nor the boy here drink," Lawler explained. "They can count on us saying no

more than we should. You must not take it amiss, but it is the orders of the County Delegate that we obey."

"Sure, we are all in it together," said Scanlan, McMurdo's mate, as the four sat together at supper.

"That's true enough, and we'll talk till the cows come home of the killing of Charlie Williams or of Simon

"There are half a dozen about here that I have a word to say to," said McMurdo, with an oath. "I suppose it

isn't Jack Knox of Ironhill that you are after. I'd go some way to see him get his deserts."

In spite of the reticence of their guests, Scanlan and McMurdo were quite determined to be present at what

they called "the fun." When, therefore, at an early hour one morning McMurdo heard them creeping down the

stairs he awakened Scanlan, and the two hurried on their clothes. When they were dressed they found that the

others had stolen out, leaving the door open behind them. It was not yet dawn, and by the light of the lamps

they could see the two men some distance down the street. They followed them warily, treading noiselessly in

The boarding house was near the edge of the town, and soon they were at the crossroads which is beyond its

boundary. Here three men were waiting, with whom Lawler and Andrews held a short, eager conversation.

Then they all moved on together. It was clearly some notable job which needed numbers. At this point there

are several trails which lead to various mines. The strangers took that which led to the Crow Hill, a huge

business which was in strong hands which had been able, thanks to their energetic and fearless New England

manager, Josiah H. Dunn, to keep some order and discipline during the long reign of terror.

Day was breaking now, and a line of workmen were slowly making their way, singly and in groups, along the

McMurdo and Scanlan strolled on with the others, keeping in sight of the men whom they followed. A thick

mist lay over them, and from the heart of it there came the sudden scream of a steam whistle. It was the

When they reached the open space round the mine shaft there were a hundred miners waiting, stamping their

feet and blowing on their fingers; for it was bitterly cold. The strangers stood in a little group under the

shadow of the engine house. Scanlan and McMurdo climbed a heap of slag from which the whole scene lay

before them. They saw the mine engineer, a great bearded Scotchman named Menzies, come out of the

At the same instant a tall, looseframed young man with a cleanshaved, earnest face advanced eagerly

towards the pit head. As he came forward his eyes fell upon the group, silent and motionless, under the

engine house. The men had drawn down their hats and turned up their collars to screen their faces. For a

moment the presentiment of Death laid its cold hand upon the manager's heart. At the next he had shaken it

There was no answer; but the lad Andrews stepped forward and shot him in the stomach. The hundred

waiting miners stood as motionless and helpless as if they were paralyzed. The man ager clapped his two

hands to the wound and doubled himself up. Then he staggered away; but another of the assassins fired, and

he went down sidewise, kicking and clawing among a heap of clinkers. Menzies, the Scotchman, gave a roar

of rage at the sight and rushed with an iron spanner at the murderers; but was met by two balls in the face

There was a surge forward of some of the miners, and an inarticulate cry of pity and of anger; but a couple of

the strangers emptied their sixshooters over the heads of the crowd, and they broke and scattered, some of

When a few of the bravest had rallied, and there was a return to the mine, the murderous gang had vanished

in the mists of morning, without a single witness being able to swear to the identity of these men who in front

Scanlan and McMurdo made their way back; Scanlan some what subdued, for it was the first murder job

that he had seen with his own eyes, and it appeared less funny than he had been led to believe. The horrible

screams of the dead manager's wife pursued them as they hurried to the town. McMurdo was absorbed and

"Sure, it is like a war," he repeated. "What is it but a war between us and them, and we hit back where we

There was high revel in the lodge room at the Union House that night, not only over the killing of the

manager and engineer of the Crow Hill mine, which would bring this organization into line with the other

blackmailed and terrorstricken companies of the district, but also over a distant triumph which had been

It would appear that when the County Delegate had sent over five good men to strike a blow in Vermissa, he

had demanded that in return three Vermissa men should be secretly selected and sent across to kill William

Hales of Stake Royal, one of the best known and most popular mine owners in the Gilmerton district, a man

who was believed not to have an enemy in the world; for he was in all ways a model employer. He had

insisted, however, upon efficiency in the work, and had, therefore, paid off certain drunken and idle

employees who were members of the all powerful society. Coffin notices hung outside his door had not

weakened his resolution, and so in a free, civilized country he found himself condemned to death.

The execution had now been duly carried out. Ted Baldwin, who sprawled now in the seat of honour beside

the Bodymaster, had been chief of the party. His flushed face and glazed, blood shot eyes told of

sleeplessness and drink. He and his two com rades had spent the night before among the mountains. They

were unkempt and weatherstained. But no heroes, returning from a forlorn hope, could have had a warmer

The story was told and retold amid cries of delight and shouts of laughter. They had waited for their man as

he drove home at nightfall, taking their station at the top of a steep hill, where his horse must be at a walk. He

was so furred to keep out the cold that he could not lay his hand on his pistol. They had pulled him out and

shot him again and again. He had screamed for mercy. The screams were repeated for the amusement of the

None of them knew the man; but there is eternal drama in a killing, and they had shown the Scowrers of

There had been one contretemps; for a man and his wife had driven up while they were still emptying their

revolvers into the silent body. It had been suggested that they should shoot them both; but they were harmless

folk who were not connected with the mines, so they were sternly bidden to drive on and keep silent, lest a

worse thing befall them. And so the bloodmottled figure had been left as a warning to all such hardhearted

em ployers, and the three noble avengers had hurried off into the mountains where unbroken nature comes

down to the very edge of the furnaces and the slag heaps. Here they were, safe and sound, their work well

It had been a great day for the Scowrers. The shadow had fallen even darker over the valley. But as the wise

general chooses the moment of victory in which to redouble his efforts, so that his foes may have no time to

steady themselves after disaster, so Boss McGinty, looking out upon the scene of his operations with his

brooding and malicious eyes, had devised a new attack upon those who opposed him. That very night, as the

halfdrunken company broke up, he touched McMurdo on the arm and led him aside into that inner room

"See here, my lad," said he, "I've got a job that's worthy of you at last. You'll have the doing of it in your own

"You can take two men with you Manders and Reilly. They have been warned for service. We'll never be

right in this district until Chester Wilcox has been settled, and you'll have the thanks of every lodge in the

McGinty took his eternal halfchewed, halfsmoked cigar from the corner of his mouth, and proceeded to

"He's the chief foreman of the Iron Dike Company. He's a hard citizen, an old colour sergeant of the war, all

scars and grizzle. We've had two tries at him; but had no luck, and Jim Carnaway lost his life over it. Now it's

for you to take it over. That's the house all alone at the Iron Dike crossroad, same as you see here on the

map without another within earshot. It's no good by day. He's armed and shoots quick and straight, with

no questions asked. But at night well, there he is with his wife three children, and a hired help. You can't

pick or choose. It's all or none. If you could get a bag of blasting powder at the front door with a slow match

"What in thunder has that to do with you? Carnaway was about his house at night, and he shot him. That's

"Easy, Councillor, easy! What have I ever said or done that you should think I would be after standing back

from an order of the Bodymaster of my own lodge? If it's right or if it's wrong, it's for you to decide."

"Well, you had best give me a night or two that I may see the house and make my plans. Then "

"Very good," said McGinty, shaking him by the hand. "I leave it with you. It will be a great day when you

bring us the news. It's just the last stroke that will bring them all to their knees."

McMurdo thought long and deeply over the commission which had been so suddenly placed in his hands.

The isolated house in which Chester Wilcox lived was about five miles off in an adjacent valley. That very

night he started off all alone to prepare for the attempt. It was daylight before he returned from his

reconnaissance. Next day he interviewed his two subordi nates, Manders and Reilly, reckless youngsters

Two nights later they met outside the town, all three armed, and one of them carrying a sack stuffed with the

powder which was used in the quarries. It was two in the morning before they came to the lonely house. The

night was a windy one, with broken clouds drifting swiftly across the face of a threequarter moon. They had

been warned to be on their guard against bloodhounds; so they moved forward cautiously, with their pis tols

cocked in their hands. But there was no sound save the howling of the wind, and no movement but the

McMurdo listened at the door of the lonely house; but all was still within. Then he leaned the powder bag

against it, ripped a hole in it with his knife, and attached the fuse. When it was well alight he and his two

companions took to their heels, and were some distance off, safe and snug in a sheltering ditch, before the

shattering roar of the explosion, with the low, deep rumble of the collapsing building, told them that their

work was done. No cleaner job had ever been carried out in the bloodstained annals of the society.

But alas that work so well organized and boldly carried out should all have gone for nothing! Warned by the

fate of the various victims, and knowing that he was marked down for destruction, Chester Wilcox had

moved himself and his family only the day before to some safer and less known quarters, where a guard of

police should watch over them. It was an empty house which had been torn down by the gunpowder, and the

grim old colour sergeant of the war was still teaching discipline to the miners of Iron Dike.

"Leave him to me," said McMurdo. "He's my man, and I'll get him sure if I have to wait a year for him."

A vote of thanks and confidence was passed in full lodge, and so for the time the matter ended. When a few

weeks later it was reported in the papers that Wilcox had been shot at from an ambuscade, it was an open

Such were the methods of the Society of Freemen, and such were the deeds of the Scowrers by which they

spread their rule of fear over the great and rich district which was for so long a period haunted by their

terrible presence. Why should these pages be stained by further crimes? Have I not said enough to show the

These deeds are written in history, and there are records wherein one may read the details of them. There one

may learn of the shooting of Policemen Hunt and Evans because they had ventured to arrest two members of

the society a double outrage planned at the Vermissa lodge and carried out in cold blood upon two

helpless and disarmed men. There also one may read of the shooting of Mrs. Larbey when she was nursing

her husband, who had been beaten almost to death by orders of Boss McGinty. The killing of the elder

Jenkins, shortly fol lowed by that of his brother, the mutilation of James Murdoch, the blowing up of the

Staphouse family, and the murder of the Stendals all followed hard upon one another in the same terrible

Darkly the shadow lay upon the Valley of Fear. The spring had come with running brooks and blossoming

trees. There was hope for all Nature bound so long in an iron grip; but nowhere was there any hope for the

men and women who lived under the yoke of the terror. Never had the cloud above them been so dark and

It was the height of the reign of terror. McMurdo, who had already been appointed Inner Deacon, with every

prospect of some day succeeding McGinty as Bodymaster, was now so necessary to the councils of his

comrades that nothing was done without his help and advice. The more popular he became, however, with the

Freemen, the blacker were the scowls which greeted him as he passed along the streets of Vermissa. In spite

of their terror the citizens were taking heart to band themselves together against their oppressors. Rumours

had reached the lodge of secret gatherings in the Herald office and of distribution of firearms among the

lawabiding people. But McGinty and his men were undisturbed by such reports. They were numerous,

resolute, and well armed. Their opponents were scattered and powerless. It would all end, as it had done in

the past, in aimless talk and possibly in impotent arrests. So said McGinty, McMurdo, and all the bolder

It was a Saturday evening in May. Saturday was always the lodge night, and McMurdo was leaving his house

to attend it when Morris, the weaker brother of the order, came to see him. His brow was creased with care,

"I can't forget that I spoke my heart to you once, and that you kept it to yourself, even though the Boss

"What else could I do if you trusted me? It wasn't that I agreed with what you said."

"I know that well. But you are the one that I can speak to and be safe. I've a secret here," he put his hand to

his breast, "and it is just burning the life out of me. I wish it had come to any one of you but me. If I tell it, it

will mean murder, for sure. If I don't, it may bring the end of us all. God help me. but I am near out of my

McMurdo looked at the man earnestly. He was trembling in every limb. He poured some whisky into a glass

and handed it to him. "That's the physic for the likes of you," said he. "Now let me hear of it."

Morris drank, and his white face took a tinge of colour. "I can tell it to you all in one sentence," said he.

McMurdo stared at him in astonishment. "Why, man, you're crazy," he said. "Isn't the place full of police and

"No, no, it's no man of the district. As you say, we know them, and it is little that they can do. But you've

"Well, you can take it from me you've no show when they are on your trail. It's not a takeitormissit

government con cern. It's a dead earnest business proposition that's out for results and keeps out till by hook

or crook it gets them. If a Pinkerton man is deep in this business, we are all destroyed."

"Ah, it's the first thought that came to you! So it will be up at the lodge. Didn't I say to you that it would end

"It is, indeed; but it's not for me to point out the man that is to be murdered. I'd never rest easy again. And yet

it's our own necks that may be at stake. In God's name what shall I do?" He rocked to and fro in his agony of

But his words had moved McMurdo deeply. It was easy to see that he shared the other's opinion as to the

danger, and the need for meeting it. He gripped Morris's shoulder and shook him in his earnestness.

"See here, man," he cried, and he almost screeched the words in his excitement, "you won't gain anything by

sitting keening like an old wife at a wake. Let's have the facts. Who is the fellow? Where is he? How did you

"I came to you; for you are the one man that would advise me. I told you that I had a store in the East before I

came here. I left good friends behind me, and one of them is in the telegraph service. Here's a letter that I had

from him yesterday. It's this part from the top of the page. You can read it yourself."

operating. The thing has got to be stopped right now. "Now read the postscript."

McMurdo sat in silence for some time, with the letter in his listless hands. The mist had lifted for a moment,

"But this man your friend has he any other person that he would be likely to write to?"

"I was asking because it is likely that he may have given some description of this fellow Birdy Edwards

"Well, it's possible. But I should not think he knew him. He is just telling me the news that came to him by

"By Gar!" he cried, "I've got him. What a fool I was not to know it. Lord! but we're in luck! We will fix him

before he can do any harm. See here, Morris, will you leave this thing in my hands?"

"I'll do that. You can stand right back and let me run it. Even your name need not be mentioned. I'll take it all

on myself, as if it were to me that this letter has come. Will that content you?"

"Then leave it at that and keep your head shut. Now I'll get down to the lodge, and we'll soon make old man

"The less you know, Friend Morris, the easier your con science will be, and the better you will sleep. Ask no

Morris shook his head sadly as he left. "I feel that his blood is on my hands," he groaned.

"Selfprotection is no murder, anyhow," said McMurdo, smil ing grimly. "It's him or us. I guess this man

would destroy us all if we left him long in the valley. Why, Brother Morris, we'll have to elect you

And yet it was clear from his actions that he thought more seriously of this new intrusion than his words

would show. It may have been his guilty conscience, it may have been the reputation of the Pinkerton

organization, it may have been the knowledge that great, rich corporations had set themselves the task of

clearing out the Scowrers; but, whatever his reason, his actions were those of a man who is preparing for the

worst. Every paper which would incriminate him was destroyed before he left the house. After that he gave a

long sigh of satisfaction; for it seemed to him that he was safe. And yet the danger must still have pressed

somewhat upon him; for on his way to the lodge he stopped at old man Shafter's. The house was forbidden

him; but when he tapped at the window Ettie came out to him. The dancing Irish deviltry had gone from her

"Sure, it is not very bad, my sweetheart. And yet it may be wise that we make a move before it is worse."

"I promised you once that I would go some day. I think the time is coming. I had news tonight, bad news,

"Well, a Pinkerton. But, sure, you wouldn't know what that is, acushla, nor what it may mean to the likes of

me. I'm too deep in this thing, and I may have to get out of it quick. You said you would come with me if I

"I'm an honest man in some things, Ettie. I wouldn't hurt a hair of your bonny head for all that the world can

give, nor ever pull you down one inch from the golden throne above the clouds where I always see you.

She put her hand in his without a word. "Well, then, listen to what I say, and do as I order you, for indeed it's

the only way for us. Things are going to happen in this valley. I feel it in my bones. There may be many of us

that will have to look out for ourselves. I'm one, anyhow. If I go, by day or night, it's you that must come with

"No, no, you shall come with me. If this valley is closed to me and I can never come back, how can I leave

you behind, and me perhaps in hiding from the police with never a chance of a message? It's with me you

must come. I know a good woman in the place I come from, and it's there I'd leave you till we can get

"God bless you for your trust in me! It's a fiend out of hell that I should be if I abused it. Now, mark you,

Ettie, it will be just a word to you, and when it reaches you, you will drop everything and come right down to

Somewhat eased in mind, now that his own preparations for escape had been begun, McMurdo went on to the

lodge. It had already assembled, and only by complicated signs and counter signs could he pass through the

outer guard and inner guard who closetiled it. A buzz of pleasure and welcome greeted him as he entered.

The long room was crowded, and through the haze of tobacco smoke he saw the tangled black mane of the

Bodymaster the cruel, unfriendly features of Baldwin, the vulture face of Harraway, the secretary, and a

dozen more who were among the leaders of the lodge. He rejoiced that they should all be there to take

"Indeed, it's glad we are to see you, Brother!" cried the chairman. "There's business here that wants a

"It's Lander and Egan," explained his neighbour as he took his seat. "They both claim the head money given

by the lodge for the shooting of old man Crabbe over at Stylestown, and who's to say which fired the bullet?"

McMurdo rose in his place and raised his hand. The expres sion of his face froze the attention of the

"Brother McMurdo claims urgency," said McGinty. "It's a claim that by the rules of this lodge takes

"Eminent Bodymaster and Brethren," he said, "I am the bearer of ill news this day; but it is better that it

should be known and discussed, than that a blow should fall upon us without warning which would destroy

us all. I have information that the most powerful and richest organizations in this state have bound themselves

together for our destruction, and that at this very moment there is a Pinkerton detective, one Birdy Edwards,

at work in the valley collecting the evidence which may put a rope round the necks of many of us, and send

every man in this room into a felon's cell. That is the situation for the discussion of which I have made a

"It is in this letter which has come into my hands," said McMurdo. Me read the passage aloud. "It is a matter

of honour with me that I can give no further particulars about the letter, nor put it into your hands; but I

assure you that there is nothing else in it which can affect the interests of the lodge. I put the case before you

"Let me say, Mr. Chairman," said one of the older brethren, "that I have heard of Birdy Edwards, and that he

"I believe we hold him in the hollow of our hands," he continued with an exulting smile upon his face. "If we

act quickly and wisely, we can cut this thing short. If I have your confidence and your help, it is little that we

"You might say so if all were as stanch as you, Councillor. But this man has all the millions of the capitalists

at his back. Do you think there is no weaker brother among all our lodges that could not be bought? He will

McMurdo nodded. "Good for you, Brother Baldwin," he said. "You and I have had our differences, but you

"Eminent Bodymaster," said McMurdo, earnestly, "I would put it to you that this is too vital a thing for us to

discuss in open lodge. God forbid that I should throw a doubt on anyone here; but if so much as a word of

gossip got to the ears of this man, there would be an end of any chance of our getting him. I would ask the

lodge to choose a trusty committee, Mr. Chairman yourself, if I might suggest it, and Brother Baldwin

here, and five more. Then I can talk freely of what I know and of what I advise should be done."

The proposition was at once adopted, and the committee chosen. Besides the chairman and Baldwin there

were the vulture faced secretary, Harraway, Tiger Cormac, the brutal young as sassin, Carter, the treasurer,

and the brothers Willaby, fearless and desperate men who would stick at nothing.

The usual revelry of the lodge was short and subdued: for there was a cloud upon the men's spirits, and many

there for the first time began to see the cloud of avenging Law drifting up in that serene sky under which they

had dwelt so long. The horrors they had dealt out to others had been so much a part of their settled lives that

the thought of retribution had become a remote one, and so seemed the more startling now that it came so

"Now, McMurdo!" said McGinty when they were alone. The seven men sat frozen in their seats.

"I said just now that I knew Birdy Edwards," McMurdo explained. "I need not tell you that he is not here

under that name. He's a brave man, but not a crazy one. He passes under the name of Steve Wilson, and he is

"Because I fell into talk with him. I thought little of it at the time, nor would have given it a second thought

but for this letter; but now I'm sure it's the man. I met him on the cars when I went down the line on

Wednesday a hard case if ever there was one. He said he was a reporter. I believed it for the moment.

Wanted to know all he could about the Scowrers and what he called 'the outrages' for a New York paper.

Asked me every kind of question so as to get something. You bet I was giving nothing away. 'I'd pay for it

and pay well,' said he, 'if I could get some stuff that would suit my editor.' I said what I thought would please

him best, and he handed me a twentydollar bill for my information. 'There's ten times that for you,' said he,

"I'll tell you. He got out at Hobson's Patch, and so did I. I chanced into the telegraph bureau, and he was

" 'See here,' said the operator after he'd gone out, 'I guess we should charge double rates for this.' 'I guess

you should,' said I. He had filled the form with stuff that might have been Chinese, for all we could make of

it. 'He fires a sheet of this off every day,' said the clerk. 'Yes,' said I; 'it's special news for his paper, and he's

scared that the others should tap it.' That was what the operator thought and what I thought at the time; but I

"By Gar! I believe you are right," said McGinty. "But what do you allow that we should do about it?"

"I'd start this next minute if I knew where we could find him," said McMurdo. "He's in Hobson's Patch; but I

"I'll go to the Patch tomorrow morning. I'll find him through the operator. He can locate him, I guess. Well,

then I'll tell him that I'm a Freeman myself. I'll offer him all the secrets of the lodge for a price. You bet he'll

tumble to it. I'll tell him the papers are at my house, and that it's as much as my life would be worth to let him

come while folk were about. He'll see that that's horse sense. Let him come at ten o'clock at night, and he

"You can plan the rest for yourselves. Widow MacNamara's is a lonely house. She's as true as steel and as

deaf as a post. There's only Scanlan and me in the house. If I get his promise and I'll let you know if I do

I'd have the whole seven of you come to me by nine o'clock. We'll get him in. If ever he gets out alive

"There's going to be a vacancy at Pinkerton's or I'm mis taken. Leave it at that, McMurdo. At nine

tomorrow we'll be with you. You once get the door shut behind him, and you can leave the rest with us."

As McMurdo had said, the house in which he lived was a lonely one and very well suited for such a crime as

they had planned. It was on the extreme fringe of the town and stood well back from the road. In any other

case the conspirators would have simply called out their man, as they had many a time before, and emptied

their pistols into his body; but in this instance it was very necessary to find out how much he knew how he

It was possible that they were already too late and that the work had been done. If that was indeed so, they

could at least have their revenge upon the man who had done it. But they were hopeful that nothing of great

importance had yet come to the detective's knowledge, as otherwise, they argued, he would not have troubled

to write down and forward such trivial information as McMurdo claimed to have given him. However, all this

they would learn from his own lips. Once in their power, they would find a way to make him speak. It was

McMurdo went to Hobson's Patch as agreed. The police seemed to take particular interest in him that

morning, and Captain Marvin he who had claimed the old acquaintance with him at Chicago actually

addressed him as he waited at the station. McMurdo turned away and refused to speak with him. He was back

"Good!" said McGinty. The giant was in his shirt sleeves, with chains and seals gleaming athwart his ample

waistcoat and a diamond twinkling through the fringe of his bristling beard. Drink and politics had made the

Boss a very rich as well as powerful man. The more terrible, therefore, seemed that glimpse of the prison or

McMurdo shook his head gloomily. "He's been here some time six weeks at the least. I guess he didn't

come into these parts to look at the prospect. If he has been working among us all that time with the railroad

money at his back, I should expect that he has got results, and that he has passed them on."

"There's not a weak man in the lodge," cried McGinty. "True as steel, every man of them. And yet, by the

Lord! there is that skunk Morris. What about him? If any man gives us away, it would be he. I've a mind to

send a couple of the boys round before evening to give him a beating up and see what they can get from

"Well, there would be no harm in that," McMurdo answered. "I won't deny that I have a liking for Morris and

would be sorry to see him come to harm. He has spoken to me once or twice over lodge matters, and though

he may not see them the same as you or I, he never seemed the sort that squeals. But still it is not for me to

"I'll fix the old devil!" said McGinty with an oath. "I've had my eye on him this year past."

"Well, you know best about that," McMurdo answered. "But whatever you do must be tomorrow; for we

must lie low until the Pinkerton affair is settled up. We can't afford to set the police buzzing, today of all

"True for you," said McGinty. "And we'll learn from Birdy Edwards himself where he got his news if we

McMurdo laughed. "I guess I took him on his weak point," he said. "If he could get on a good trail of the

Scowrers, he's ready to follow it into hell. I took his money," McMurdo grinned as he produced a wad of

"Well, there are no papers. But I filled him up about constitu tions and books of rules and forms of

membership. He expects to get right down to the end of everything before he leaves."

"Faith, he's right there," said McGinty grimly. "Didn't he ask you why you didn't bring him the papers?"

"As if I would carry such things, and me a suspected man, and Captain Marvin after speaking to me this very

"Ay, I heard of that," said McGinty. "I guess the heavy end of this business is coming on to you. We could

put him down an old shaft when we've done with him; but however we work it we can't get past the man

McMurdo shrugged his shoulders. "If we handle it right, they can never prove the killing," said he. "No one

can see him come to the house after dark, and I'll lay to it that no one will see him go. Now see here,

Councillor, I'll show you my plan and I'll ask you to fit the others into it. You will all come in good time.

Very well. He comes at ten. He is to tap three times, and me to open the door for him. Then I'll get behind

"Yes; but the next step wants considering. He's a hard propo sition. He's heavily armed. I've fooled him

proper, and yet he is likely to be on his guard. Suppose I show him right into a room with seven men in it

where he expected to find me alone. There is going to be shooting, and somebody is going to be hurt."

"And the noise is going to bring every damned copper in the township on top of it."

"This is how I should work it. You will all be in the big room same as you saw when you had a chat with

me. I'll open the door for him, show him into the parlour beside the door, and leave him there while I get the

papers. That will give me the chance of telling you how things are shaping. Then I will go back to him with

some faked papers. As he is reading them I will jump for him and get my grip on his pistol arm. You'll hear

me call and in you will rush. The quicker the better; for he is as strong a man as I, and I may have more than I

"It's a good plan," said McGinty. "The lodge will owe you a debt for this. I guess when I move out of the

"Sure, Councillor, I am little more than a recruit," said McMurdo; but his face showed what he thought of the

When he had returned home he made his own preparations for the grim evening in front of him. First he

cleaned, oiled, and loaded his Smith Wesson revolver. Then he surveyed the room in which the detective was

to be trapped. It was a large apartment, with a long deal table in the centre, and the big stove at one side. At

each of the other sides were windows. There were no shutters on these: only light curtains which drew across.

McMurdo examined these attentively. No doubt it must have struck him that the apartment was very exposed

for so secret a meeting. Yet its distance from the road made it of less conse quence. Finally he discussed the

matter with his fellow lodger. Scanlan, though a Scowrer, was an inoffensive little man who was too weak to

stand against the opinion of his comrades, but was secretly horrified by the deeds of blood at which he had

"And if I were you, Mike Scanlan, I would take a night off and keep clear of it. There will be bloody work

"Well, indeed then, Mac," Scanlan answered. "It's not the will but the nerve that is wanting in me. When I

saw Manager Dunn go down at the colliery yonder it was just more than I could stand. I'm not made for it,

same as you or McGinty. If the lodge will think none the worse of me, I'll just do as you advise and leave you

The men came in good time as arranged. They were out wardly respectable citizens, well clad and cleanly;

but a judge of faces would have read little hope for Birdy Edwards in those hard mouths and remorseless

eyes. There was not a man in the room whose hands had not been reddened a dozen times before. They were

Foremost, of course, both in appearance and in guilt, was the formidable Boss. Harraway, the secretary, was a

lean, bitter man with a long, scraggy neck and nervous, jerky limbs, a man of incorruptible fidelity where the

finances of the order were con cerned, and with no notion of justice or honesty to anyone beyond. The

treasurer, Carter, was a middleaged man, with an impassive, rather sulky expression, and a yellow

parchment skin. He was a capable organizer, and the actual details of nearly every outrage had sprung from

his plotting brain. The two Willabys were men of action, tall, lithe young fellows with determined faces,

while their companion, Tiger Cormac, a heavy, dark youth, was feared even by his own comrades for the

ferocity of his disposition. These were the men who assembled that night under the roof of McMurdo for the

Their host had placed whisky upon the table, and they had hastened to prime themselves for the work before

them. Baldwin and Cormac were already halfdrunk, and the liquor had brought out all their ferocity.

Cormac placed his hands on the stove for an instant it had been lighted, for the nights were still cold.

"Ay," said Baldwin, catching his meaning. "If he is strapped to that, we will have the truth out of him."

"We'll have the truth out of him, never fear," said McMurdo. He had nerves of steel, this man; for though the

whole weight of the affair was on him his manner was as cool and unconcerned as ever. The others marked it

"You are the one to handle him," said the Boss approvingly. "Not a warning will he get till your hand is on

McMurdo went from one to the other and drew the curtains tighter. "Sure no one can spy upon us now. It's

"He'll come, never fear," McMurdo answered. "He is as eager to come as you can be to see him. Hark to

They all sat like wax figures, some with their glasses arrested halfway to their lips. Three loud knocks had

"Hush!" McMurdo raised his hand in caution. An exulting glance went round the circle, and hands were laid

"Not a sound, for your lives!" McMurdo whispered, as he went from the room, closing the door carefully

With strained ears the murderers waited. They counted the steps of their comrade down the passage. Then

they heard him open the outer door. There were a few words as of greeting. Then they were aware of a

strange step inside and of an unfamil iar voice. An instant later came the slam of the door and the turning of

the key in the lock. Their prey was safe within the trap. Tiger Cormac laughed horribly, and Boss McGinty

There was a mutter of conversation from the next room. It seemed interminable. Then the door opened, and

He came to the end of the table and looked round at them. A subtle change had come over him. His manner

was as of one who has great work to do. His face had set into granite firmness. His eyes shone with a fierce

excitement behind his spectacles. He had become a visible leader of men. They stared at him with eager

interest; but he said nothing. Still with the same singular gaze he looked from man to man.

There were ten seconds after that brief speech during which the room might have been empty, so profound

was the silence. The hissing of a kettle upon the stove rose sharp and strident to the ear. Seven white faces, all

turned upward to this man who dominated them, were set motionless with utter terror. Then, with a sudden

shivering of glass, a bristle of glistening rifle barrels broke through each window, while the curtains were torn

At the sight Boss McGinty gave the roar of a wounded bear and plunged for the halfopened door. A levelled

revolver met him there with the stern blue eyes of Captain Marvin of the Mine Police gleaming behind the

"You're safer there, Councillor," said the man whom they had known as McMurdo. "And you, Baldwin, if

you don't take your hand off your pistol, you'll cheat the hangman yet. Pull it out, or by the Lord that made

me There, that will do. There are forty armed men round this house, and you can figure it out for yourself

There was no possible resistance under the menace of those rifles. The men were disarmed. Sulky, sheepish,

"I'd like to say a word to you before we separate," said the man who had trapped them. "I guess we may not

meet again until you see me on the stand in the courthouse. I'll give you something to think over between

now and then. You know me now for what I am. At last I can put my cards on the table. I am Birdy Edwards

of Pinkerton's. I was chosen to break up your gang. I had a hard and dangerous game to play. Not a soul, not

one soul, not my nearest and dearest, knew that I was playing it. Only Captain Marvin here and my

The seven pale, rigid faces looked up at him. There was unappeasable hatred in their eyes. He read the

"Maybe you think that the game is not over yet. Well, I take my chance of that. Anyhow, some of you will

take no further hand, and there are sixty more besides yourselves that will see a jail this night. I'll tell you

this, that when I was put upon this job I never believed there was such a society as yours. I thought it was

paper talk, and that I would prove it so. They told me it was to do with the Freemen; so I went to Chicago and

was made one. Then I was surer than ever that it was just paper talk; for I found no harm in the society, but a

"Still, I had to carry out my job, and I came to the coal valleys. When I reached this place I learned that I was

wrong and that it wasn't a dime novel after all. So I stayed to look after it. I never killed a man in Chicago. I

never minted a dollar in my life. Those I gave you were as good as any others; but I never spent money

better. But I knew the way into your good wishes and so l pretended to you that the law was after me. It all

"So I joined your infernal lodge, and I took my share in your councils. Maybe they will say that I was as bad

as you. They can say what they like, so long as I get you. But what is the truth? The night I joined you beat

up old man Stanger. I could not warn him, for there was no time; but I held your hand, Baldwin, when you

would have killed him. If ever I have suggested things, so as to keep my place among you, they were things

which I knew I could prevent. I could not save Dunn and Menzies, for I did not know enough; but I will see

that their murderers are hanged. I gave Chester Wilcox warning, so that when I blew his house in he and his

folk were in hiding. There was many a crime that I could not stop; but if you look back and think how often

your man came home the other road, or was down in town when you went for him, or stayed indoors when

"Ay, John McGinty, you may call me that if it eases your smart. You and your like have been the enemy of

God and man in these parts. It took a man to get between you and the poor devils of men and women that you

held under your grip. There was just one way of doing it, and I did it. You call me a traitor; but I guess there's

many a thousand will call me a deliverer that went down into hell to save them. I've had three months of it. I

wouldn't have three such months again if they let me loose in the treasury at Washington for it. I had to stay

till I had it all, every man and every secret right here in this hand. I'd have waited a little longer if it hadn't

come to my knowledge that my secret was coming out. A letter had come into the town that would have set

"I've nothing more to say to you, except that when my time comes I'll die the easier when I think of the work

I have done in this valley. Now, Marvin, I'll keep you no more. Take them in and get it over."

There is little more to tell. Scanlan had been given a sealed note to be left at the address of Miss Ettie Shafter,

a mission which he had accepted with a wink and a knowing smile. In the early hours of the morning a

beautiful woman and a much muffled man boarded a special train which had been sent by the railroad

company, and made a swift, unbroken journey out of the land of danger. It was the last time that ever either

Ettie or her lover set foot in the Valley of Fear. Ten days later they were married in Chicago, with old Jacob

The trial of the Scowrers was held far from the place where their adherents might have terrified the guardians

of the law. In vain they struggled. In vain the money of the lodge money squeezed by blackmail out of the

whole countryside was spent like water in the attempt to save them. That cold, clear. unim passioned

statement from one who knew every detail of their lives, their organization, and their crimes was unshaken by

all the wiles of their defenders. At last after so many years they were broken and scattered. The cloud was

McGinty met his fate upon the scaffold, cringing and whining when the last hour came. Eight of his chief

followers shared his fate. Fiftyodd had various degrees of imprisonment. The work of Birdy Edwards was

And yet, as he had guessed, the game was not over yet. There was another hand to be played, and yet another

and another. Ted Baldwin, for one, had escaped the scaffold; so had the Willabys; so had several others of the

fiercest spirits of the gang. For ten years they were out of the world, and then came a day when they were free

once more a day which Edwards, who knew his men, was very sure would be an end of his life of peace.

They had sworn an oath on all that they thought holy to have his blood as a vengeance for their comrades.

From Chicago he was chased, after two attempts so near success that it was sure that the third would get him.

From Chicago he went under a changed name to California, and it was there that the light went for a time out

of his life when Ettie Edwards died. Once again he was nearly killed, and once again under the name of

Douglas he worked in a lonely canon, where with an English partner named Barker he amassed a fortune. At

last there came a warning to him that the bloodhounds were on his track once more, and he cleared only

just in time for England. And thence came the John Douglas who for a second time married a worthy

mate, and lived for five years as a Sussex county gentle man, a life which ended with the strange

The police trial had passed, in which the case of John Douglas was referred to a higher court. So had the

"Get him out of England at any cost," wrote Holmes to the wife. "There are forces here which may be more

dangerous than those he has escaped. There is no safety for your husband in England."

Two months had gone by, and the case had to some extent passed from our minds. Then one morning there

came an enig matic note slipped into our letter box. "Dear me, Mr. Holmes. Dear me!" said this singular

epistle. There was neither super scription nor signature. I laughed at the quaint message; but Holmes

Late last night Mrs. Hudson, our landlady, brought up a message that a gentleman wished to see Holmes, and

that the matter was of the utmost importance. Close at the heels of his messenger came Cecil Barker, our

"It's poor Douglas. They tell me his name is Edwards; but he will always be Jack Douglas of Benito Canon to

me. I told you that they started together for South Africa in the Palmyra three weeks ago."

"The ship reached Cape Town last night. I received this cable from Mrs. Douglas this morning:

"So I think also. These infernal Scowrers, this cursed vindic tive nest of criminals "

"No, no, my good sir," said Holmes. "There is a master hand here. It is no case of sawedoff shotguns and

clumsy six shooters. You can tell an old master by the sweep of his brush. I can tell a Moriarty when I see

"Because it is done by a man who cannot afford to fail, one whose whole unique position depends upon the

fact that all he does must succeed. A great brain and a huge organization have been turned to the extinction of

one man. It is crushing the nut with the triphammer an absurd extravagance of energy but the nut is

"I can only say that the first word that ever came to us of the business was from one of his lieutenants. These

Americans were well advised. Having an English job to do, they took into partnership, as any foreign

criminal could do, this great consul tant in crime. From that moment their man was doomed. At first he

would content himself by using his machinery in order to find their victim. Then he would indicate how the

matter might be treated. Finally, when he read in the reports of the failure of this agent, he would step in

himself with a master touch. You heard me warn this man at Birlstone Manor House that the coming danger

Barker beat his head with his clenched fist in his impotent anger. "Do not tell me that we have to sit down

"No, I don't say that," said Holmes, and his eyes seemed to be looking far into the future. "I don't say that he

We all sat in silence for some minutes while those fateful eyes still strained to pierce the veil.