[SPEAKER_00]: Hello and welcome to the Sherlock Holmes Bedtime Stories podcast.

[SPEAKER_00]: Each episode is a section from a classic Sherlock Holmes story with relaxing music to help you fall asleep.

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[SPEAKER_00]: Thank you for joining us this evening.

[SPEAKER_00]: Now it's time to relax.

[SPEAKER_00]: Let your body fall into a comfortable position in your bed and drift gently into a state of total relaxation with tonight's story.

[SPEAKER_00]: part two.

[SPEAKER_00]: That evening found us in the cold, bracing atmosphere of the peak country, in which Dr.

Huggstables' famous school is situated.

[SPEAKER_00]: It was already dark when we reached it.

[SPEAKER_00]: A card was lying on the whole table, and the butler whispered something to his master who turned to us with agitation in every heavy feature.

[SPEAKER_00]: The Duke is here, said he, the Duke and Mr.

Wilder are in the study.

[SPEAKER_00]: Come, gentlemen, and I will introduce you.

[SPEAKER_00]: I was, of course, familiar with the pictures of the famous statesman, but the man himself was very different from his representation.

[SPEAKER_00]: He was a tall and stately person, scrupulously dressed with a drawn thin face and a nose which was [SPEAKER_00]: His complexion was of a dead paler, which was more startling by contrast with a long, dwindling beard of vivid red, which flowed down over his white waistcoat, with his watchchained gleaming through its fringe.

[SPEAKER_00]: Such was the stately presence who looked stonely at us from the centre of Dr.

Huxstyl's Hathrock.

[SPEAKER_00]: Beside him stood a very young man, whom I understood to be wilder, the private secretary [SPEAKER_00]: He was small, nervous, alert with intelligent light blue eyes and mobile features.

[SPEAKER_00]: It was he who had once in an incisive and positive tone opened the conversation.

[SPEAKER_00]: I called this morning Dr.

Huxtable, too late to prevent you from starting for London.

[SPEAKER_00]: I learned that your object was to invite Mr.

Sherlock Holmes to undertake the conduct of [SPEAKER_00]: His grace is surprised, Dr.

Huxtable, that you should have taken such a step without consulting him.

[SPEAKER_00]: When I learned that the police had failed, his grace is by no means convinced that the police have failed.

[SPEAKER_00]: But surely, Mr.

Wilder.

[SPEAKER_00]: You are well aware, Dr.

Huxtable, that his grace is particularly anxious to avoid all public scandal.

[SPEAKER_00]: He prefers to take as few people as possible into his confidence.

[SPEAKER_00]: The matter can be easily remedied, said the brow beaten doctor.

[SPEAKER_00]: Mr.

Sherlock Holmes can return to London by the morning train.

[SPEAKER_00]: Hardly that doctor hardly that said Holmes in his blandest voice.

[SPEAKER_00]: This northern air is invigorating and pleasant, so I propose to spend a few days upon your mors and to occupy my mind as best I may.

[SPEAKER_00]: Whether I have the shelter of your roof or of the village in is of course for you to decide.

[SPEAKER_00]: I could see that the unfortunate doctor was in the last stage of indecision.

[SPEAKER_00]: from which he was rescued by the deep, sonorous voice of the red bearded Duke, which boomed out like a dinner gong.

[SPEAKER_00]: I agree with Mr.

Wilder, Dr.

Huckstable, that you would have done wisely to consult me.

[SPEAKER_00]: But since Mr.

Holmes has already been taken into your confidence, it would indeed be absurd that we should not avail ourselves of his services.

[SPEAKER_00]: Far from going to the inn, Mr.

Holmes, I should be pleased if you would come and stay with me at Holden as a whole.

[SPEAKER_00]: I thank your grace.

[SPEAKER_00]: For the purposes of my investigation, I think that it would be wise for me to remain at the scene of the mystery.

[SPEAKER_00]: Just as you like Mr.

Holmes, any information which Mr.

Wilder or I can give you is of course at your disposal.

[SPEAKER_00]: It will probably be necessary for me to see you at the hall, said Holmes.

[SPEAKER_00]: I would only ask you now, sir, whether you have formed any explanation in your own mind, as to the mysterious disappearance of your son.

[SPEAKER_00]: No, sir, I have not.

[SPEAKER_00]: Excuse me if I allude to that which is painful to you, but I have no alternative.

[SPEAKER_00]: Do you think that the Duchess had anything to do with the matter?

[SPEAKER_00]: What the Great Minister showed perceptible hesitation, I do not think so, he said it last.

[SPEAKER_00]: The other most obvious explanation is that the child has been kidnapped for the purpose of levying ransom.

[SPEAKER_00]: You have not had any demand of the sort.

[SPEAKER_00]: I understand that you wrote to your son upon the day when this incident occurred.

[SPEAKER_00]: No, I wrote upon the day before.

[SPEAKER_00]: Exactly.

[SPEAKER_00]: But he received it on that day?

[SPEAKER_00]: Yes.

[SPEAKER_00]: Was there anything in your letter which might have unbalanced him or induced him to take such a step?

[SPEAKER_00]: No sir, certainly not.

[SPEAKER_00]: Did you post that letter yourself?

[SPEAKER_00]: The Noble Man's reply was interrupted by his secretary who broke in with some heat.

[SPEAKER_00]: His grace is not in the habit of posting letters himself, said he.

[SPEAKER_00]: This letter was laid with others upon the study table, and I myself put them in the post-bag.

[SPEAKER_00]: You are sure this one was among them.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yes, I observed it.

[SPEAKER_00]: How many letters did your grace write that day?

[SPEAKER_00]: 20 or 30, I have a large correspondence, but surely this is somewhat irrelevant.

[SPEAKER_00]: Not entirely, said Holmes.

[SPEAKER_00]: For my own part, that you continued, I have advised the police to turn their attention to the south of France.

[SPEAKER_00]: I have already said that I do not believe that the Duchess would encourage so monstrous and action, but the lad had the most wrong-headed opinions and it is possible that he may have fled to her, aided and abetted by this German.

[SPEAKER_00]: I think Dr.

Huxtable that we will now return to the hall.

[SPEAKER_00]: I could see that there were other questions which Holmes would have wished to put, but the nobleman's abrupt manner showed that the interview was at an end.

[SPEAKER_00]: It was evident that to his intensely aristocratic nature, this discussion of his intimate family affairs with a stranger was most of Horent, and that he feared less every fresh question would throw a fierce a light into the discreetly shadowed corners of his [SPEAKER_00]: When the nobleman and his secretary had left, my friend flung himself at once with characteristic eagerness into the investigation.

[SPEAKER_00]: The boy's chamber was carefully examined and yielded nothing, save the absolute conviction that it was only through the window that he could have escaped.

[SPEAKER_00]: The German masters' room and effects gave no further clue.

[SPEAKER_00]: In his case, a trailer of Ivy had given way under his weight and we saw by the light of a lantern, the mark on the lawn where his heels had come down.

[SPEAKER_00]: That one dent in the short green grass was the only material witness left of this inexplicable nocturnal flight.

[SPEAKER_00]: Sherlock Holmes left the house alone and only returned after 11.

[SPEAKER_00]: And this he brought into my room where he laid it out on the bed and having balanced the lamp in the middle of it.

[SPEAKER_00]: He began to smoke over it and occasionally to point out objects of interest with the wreaking amber of his pipe.

[SPEAKER_00]: This case grows upon me Watson said he, There are decidedly some points of interest in connection with it.

[SPEAKER_00]: In this early stage, I want you to realize those geographical features which may have a good deal to do with our investigation.

[SPEAKER_00]: Look at this map.

[SPEAKER_00]: This dark square is the priory school I'll put a pin in it.

[SPEAKER_00]: Now this line is the main road.

[SPEAKER_00]: You see that it runs east and west past the school.

[SPEAKER_00]: And you see also that there is no side road for a mile either way.

[SPEAKER_00]: If these two folk [SPEAKER_00]: Exactly.

[SPEAKER_00]: By a singular and happy chance we are able to some extent to check what passed along this road during the night in question.

[SPEAKER_00]: At this point where my pipe is now resting, a county constable was on duty from 12 to 6.

[SPEAKER_00]: It is as you perceive the first cross road on the east side.

[SPEAKER_00]: This man declares that he was not absent from his post for an instant and he is positive [SPEAKER_00]: I have spoken with this policeman tonight and he appears to me to be a perfectly reliable person.

[SPEAKER_00]: That blocks this end.

[SPEAKER_00]: We have now to deal with the other.

[SPEAKER_00]: There is an in here, the Red Bull, the landlady of which was ill.

She had sent to Mackelton for a doctor but he did not arrive until morning being absent at another case.

[SPEAKER_00]: The people at the in were alert all night, awaiting his coming, and one or other of them seems to have continually had an eye upon the road.

[SPEAKER_00]: They declare that no one passed.

[SPEAKER_00]: If their evidence is good, then we are fortunate enough to be able to block the West and also to be able to say that the fugitives did not use the road at all.

[SPEAKER_00]: But the bicycle I objected.

[SPEAKER_00]: Quite so.

[SPEAKER_00]: We will come to the bicycle presently to continue our reasoning.

[SPEAKER_00]: If these people did not go by the road, they must have traversed the country to the north of the house, or to the south of the house.

[SPEAKER_00]: That is certain.

[SPEAKER_00]: Let us weigh the one against the other.

[SPEAKER_00]: On the south of the house is, as you perceive, a large district of arable land cut up into small fields with stone walls between them.

[SPEAKER_00]: There I admit that a bicycle is impossible.

[SPEAKER_00]: We can dismiss the idea.

[SPEAKER_00]: We turn to the country on the north.

[SPEAKER_00]: Here there lies a grove of trees marked as the ragged shore, and on the farther side stretches a great rolling more, lower Gilmore, extending for ten miles and sloping gradually upward.

[SPEAKER_00]: Here at one side of this wilderness is Holdeness Hall, ten miles by road but only six across the more.

[SPEAKER_00]: It is a peculiarly desolate plain, [SPEAKER_00]: A few more farmers have small holdings, where they rear sheep and cattle, except these the plover and the curlure were the only inhabitants until you come to the Chesterfield high road.

[SPEAKER_00]: There is a church there, you see, a few cottages and an in.

[SPEAKER_00]: Beyond that, the hills become precipitous.

[SPEAKER_00]: Surely it is here to the north that our quest must lie.

[SPEAKER_00]: But the bicycle, I persisted.

[SPEAKER_00]: Well, well, said Holmes impatiently.

[SPEAKER_00]: A good cyclist does not need a high road.

[SPEAKER_00]: The more is intersected with paths, and the moon was at the fall.

[SPEAKER_00]: Hello, what is this?

[SPEAKER_00]: There was an agitated knock at the door, and an instant afterwards, Dr.

Huxtable was in the room.

[SPEAKER_00]: In his hand, he held a blue cricket cap with a white chevron on the peak.

[SPEAKER_00]: At last we have a clue, he cried.

[SPEAKER_00]: Thank heaven at last we are on the dear boy's track, it is his cap.

[SPEAKER_00]: Where was it found?

[SPEAKER_00]: In the van of the gypsies who camped on the moor, they left on Tuesday.

[SPEAKER_00]: Today the police traced them down and examined their caravan.

[SPEAKER_00]: This was found.

[SPEAKER_00]: How do they count for it?

[SPEAKER_00]: They shuffled and lied, said that they found it on the moor on Tuesday morning.

[SPEAKER_00]: They know where he is, the rascals.

[SPEAKER_00]: Thank goodness they are all safe under lock and key, either the fear of the law, or the Duke's purse will certainly get out of them all that they know.

[SPEAKER_00]: So far so good, said Holmes when the doctor had at last left the room, [SPEAKER_00]: It at least bears out the theory that it is on the side of the lower gill more that we must hope for results.

[SPEAKER_00]: The police have really done nothing locally, save the arrest of these gypsies.

[SPEAKER_00]: Look here what's and there is a water course across the more.

[SPEAKER_00]: You see it marked here in the map.

[SPEAKER_00]: In some parts it widens into a morass.

[SPEAKER_00]: This is particularly so in the region between Holdeners Hall and the school.

[SPEAKER_00]: It is vain to look elsewhere for tracks in this dry weather, but at that point there is certainly a chance of some record being left.

[SPEAKER_00]: I will call you early tomorrow morning, and you and I will try if we can throw some little light upon the mystery.

[SPEAKER_00]: The day was just breaking when I woke to find the long thin form of homes by my bedside.

[SPEAKER_00]: He was fully dressed and had apparently already been out.

[SPEAKER_00]: I have done the lawn and the bicycle sheds, I have also had a rumble through the ragged [SPEAKER_00]: Now what's in there is Coco ready in the next room.

[SPEAKER_00]: I must beg you to hurry for we have a great day before us.

[SPEAKER_00]: His eyes shone and his cheek was flushed with the exhilaration of the master workman who sees his work lie ready before him.

[SPEAKER_00]: A very different homes, this active alert man, from the introspective and [SPEAKER_00]: I felt as I looked upon that supple figure alive with nervous energy that it was indeed a strenuous day that awaited us.

[SPEAKER_00]: And yet it opened in the blackest disappointment.

[SPEAKER_00]: With high hopes we struck across the PT Russet Moore intersected with a thousand sheep paths until we came to the broad light green belt which marked the morass between us and [SPEAKER_00]: Certainly if the lad had gone home, would he must have passed this, and he could not pass it without leaving his traces.

[SPEAKER_00]: But no sign of him or the German could be seen.

[SPEAKER_00]: With a darkening face, my friends strode along the margin, eagerly observant of every muddy stain upon the mossy surface.

[SPEAKER_00]: Sheep marks their were in profusion, and at one place some miles down, cows had left their [SPEAKER_00]: Nothing more.

[SPEAKER_00]: Check number one, said Holmes, looking gloomily over the rolling expanse of the more.

[SPEAKER_00]: There is another Marass down yonder and a narrow neck between.

[SPEAKER_00]: Hello.

[SPEAKER_00]: Hello.

[SPEAKER_00]: Hello.

[SPEAKER_00]: What have we here?

[SPEAKER_00]: We had come on a small black ribbon of pathway.

[SPEAKER_00]: Harah, I cried, we have it.

[SPEAKER_00]: But homes were shaking his head and his face was puzzled and expectant rather than joyous.

[SPEAKER_00]: A bicycle certainly but not their bicycle said he, I am familiar with 42 different impressions left by tires.

[SPEAKER_00]: This, as you perceive, is a done-rop with a patch upon the outer cover.

[SPEAKER_00]: Heidigas' tires were farmers leaving longitudinal stripes.

[SPEAKER_00]: Avaling the mathematical master was sure upon the point.

[SPEAKER_00]: Therefore, it is not Heidigas' track.

[SPEAKER_00]: The boys then.

[SPEAKER_00]: Possibly if we could prove a bicycle to have been in his possession, but this we have utterly failed to do.

[SPEAKER_00]: This track, as you perceive, was made by a rider who was going from the direction of the school.

[SPEAKER_00]: Or towards it?

[SPEAKER_00]: No, no, my dear Watson.

[SPEAKER_00]: The more deeply sunk impression is, of course, the hind wheel, upon which the weight rests.

[SPEAKER_00]: You perceive several places where it has passed across and obliterated the more shallow mark of the front one.

[SPEAKER_00]: It was undoubtedly heading away from the school.

[SPEAKER_00]: It may or may not be connected with our inquiry, but we will follow it backwards before we go any further.

[SPEAKER_00]: We did so, and at the end of a few hundred yards lost the tracks as we emerged from the boggy portion of the more.

[SPEAKER_00]: Following the path backwards, we picked out another spot where a spring trickled across it.

[SPEAKER_00]: Here once again was the mark of the bicycle, though nearly obliterated by the hooves of cows.

[SPEAKER_00]: After that there was no sign, but the path ran right on into ragged shore, the wood which backed onto the school.

[SPEAKER_00]: From this wood the cycle must have emerged.

[SPEAKER_00]: home sat down on a boulder and rested his chin in his hands.

[SPEAKER_00]: I had smoked two cigarettes before he moved.

[SPEAKER_00]: Well, well, said he had last.

[SPEAKER_00]: It is, of course, possible that a cunning man might change the tires of his bicycle in order to leave unfamiliar tracks.

[SPEAKER_00]: A criminal who was capable of such a thought is a man who might should be proud to do business with.

[SPEAKER_00]: We will leave this question undecided and hark back to our Marass again, for we have left a good deal unexplored.

[SPEAKER_00]: We continued our systematic survey of the edge of the sudden portion of the more, and soon our perseverance was gloriously rewarded.

[SPEAKER_00]: Homes gave a cry of delight as he approached it.

[SPEAKER_00]: An impression like a fine bundle of telegraph wires ran down the center of it.

[SPEAKER_00]: It was the palm attires.

[SPEAKER_00]: Here is her Heidegger sure enough, cried Homes excellently.

[SPEAKER_00]: My reasoning seems to have been pretty sound Watson.

[SPEAKER_00]: I congratulate you.

[SPEAKER_00]: but we have a long way still to go.

[SPEAKER_00]: Kindly walk clear of the path.

[SPEAKER_00]: Now let us follow the trail.

[SPEAKER_00]: I fear that it will not lead very far.

[SPEAKER_00]: We found, however, as we advance that this portion of the more is intersected with soft patches.

[SPEAKER_00]: And though we frequently lost sight of the track, we always succeeded in picking it up once more.

[SPEAKER_00]: Do you observe, said Holmes, that the rider is now undoubtedly forcing the pace, there can be no doubt of it.

[SPEAKER_00]: Look at this impression, where you get both tires clear, the one is as deep as the other.

[SPEAKER_00]: That can only mean that the rider is throwing his weight onto the handlebar as a man does when he is sprinting, by jove he has had a form.

[SPEAKER_00]: then there were a few foot marks, and the tire reappeared once more.

[SPEAKER_00]: A side slip, I suggested.

[SPEAKER_00]: Homes held up a crumpled branch of flowering gauze.

[SPEAKER_00]: To my horror, I perceived that the yellow blossoms were all dabbled with crimson.

[SPEAKER_00]: On the path too, and among the Heather were dark stains of clotted blood, [SPEAKER_00]: Bad, said Holmes.

[SPEAKER_00]: Bad, stand clear Watson.

[SPEAKER_00]: Not an unnecessary footstep.

[SPEAKER_00]: What do I read here?

[SPEAKER_00]: He fell wounded, he stood up, he remounted, he proceeded.

[SPEAKER_00]: But there is no other track, cattle on this side path.

[SPEAKER_00]: He was surely not gaud by a bull?

[SPEAKER_00]: Impossible.

[SPEAKER_00]: But I see no traces of [SPEAKER_00]: We must push on Watson, surely with stains as well as the track to guide us, he cannot escape us now.

[SPEAKER_00]: Our search was not a very long one.

[SPEAKER_00]: The tracks of the tire began to curve fantastically upon the wet and shining path.

[SPEAKER_00]: Suddenly, as I looked ahead, the gleam of metal caught my eye from amid the thick gauce [SPEAKER_00]: Out of them, we dragged a bicycle, palm-attired, one-pedal bent, and the whole front of it horribly smeared and slobbered with blood.

[SPEAKER_00]: On the other side of the bushes, a shoe was projecting.

[SPEAKER_00]: We ran round, and there lay the unfortunate rider.

[SPEAKER_00]: He was a tall man full bearded with spectacles, one glass of which had been knocked out.

[SPEAKER_00]: The cause of his death was a frightful blow upon the head, which had crushed in part of his skull.

[SPEAKER_00]: That he could have gone on after receiving such an injury said much for the vitality and courage of the man.

[SPEAKER_00]: He wore shoes, but no socks, and his open coat disclosed a night shirt beneath it.

[SPEAKER_00]: It was undoubtedly the German master.

[SPEAKER_00]: Holmes turned the body over reverently and examined it with great attention.

[SPEAKER_00]: He then sat in deep thought for a time, and I could see by his ruffled brow that this grim discovery had not, in his opinion, advanced as much in our inquiry.

[SPEAKER_00]: It is a little difficult to know what to do Watson," said he at last.

[SPEAKER_00]: My own inclinations are to push this inquiry on, for we have already lost so much time that we cannot afford to waste another hour.

[SPEAKER_00]: On the other hand, we are bound to inform the police of the discovery and to see that this poor fellow's body is looked after.

[SPEAKER_00]: I could take a note back.

[SPEAKER_00]: wait a bit.

[SPEAKER_00]: There is a fellow cutting peat up yonder, bring him over here and he will guide the police.

[SPEAKER_00]: I brought the peasant across and homes dispatched the frightened man with a note to Dr.

Huxtable.

[SPEAKER_00]: Now Watson said he, we have picked up two clues this morning.

[SPEAKER_00]: One [SPEAKER_00]: The other is the bicycle with the patched Dunlop.

[SPEAKER_00]: Before we start to investigate that, let us try to realise what we do know, so as to make the most of it, and to separate the essential from the accidental.

[SPEAKER_00]: First of all, I wish to impress upon you that the boy certainly left of his own free will.

[SPEAKER_00]: He got down from his window and he went off, either alone or with someone.

[SPEAKER_00]: That is sure.

[SPEAKER_00]: I ascended.

[SPEAKER_00]: Well now let us turn to this unfortunate German master.

[SPEAKER_00]: The boy was fully dressed when he fled.

[SPEAKER_00]: Therefore he foresaw what he would do.

[SPEAKER_00]: But the German went without his socks.

[SPEAKER_00]: He certainly acted on very short notice.

[SPEAKER_00]: Undoubtedly.

[SPEAKER_00]: Why did he go?

[SPEAKER_00]: because from his bedroom window he saw the flight of the boy because he wished to overtake him and bring him back.

[SPEAKER_00]: He seized his bicycle, pursued the lad, and in pursuing him met his death.

[SPEAKER_00]: So it would seem.

[SPEAKER_00]: Now I come to the critical part of my argument.

[SPEAKER_00]: The natural action of a man in pursuing a little [SPEAKER_00]: He would know that he could overtake him, but the German does not do so.

[SPEAKER_00]: He turns to his bicycle.

[SPEAKER_00]: I am told that he was an excellent cyclist.

[SPEAKER_00]: He would not do this if he did not see that the boy had some swift means of escape.

[SPEAKER_00]: The other bicycle.

[SPEAKER_00]: Let us continue our reconstruction.

[SPEAKER_00]: He meets his death five miles from the school, not by a bullet mark you, which even a lad might conceivably discharge, but by a savage blow dealt by a vigorous arm.

[SPEAKER_00]: The lad then had a companion in his flight.

[SPEAKER_00]: And the flight was a swift one since he took five miles before an expert cyclist could overtake them, yet we survey the ground round the scene of the tragedy.

[SPEAKER_00]: What do we find?

[SPEAKER_00]: A few cattle tracks nothing more.

[SPEAKER_00]: I took a wide sweep round and there is no path within 50 yards.

[SPEAKER_00]: Another cyclist could have had nothing to do with the actual murder, nor were there any human footmarks.

[SPEAKER_00]: Homes, I cried, this is impossible.

[SPEAKER_00]: Admiral, he said, a most illuminating remark, it is impossible as I state it, and therefore [SPEAKER_00]: Yet you saw for yourself, can you suggest any fallacy?

[SPEAKER_00]: He could not have fractured his skull in a fall?

[SPEAKER_00]: In a morass Watson?

[SPEAKER_00]: I am at my wit's end.

[SPEAKER_00]: Tutt-tut, we have solved some worse problems, at least we have plenty of material if we can only use it.

[SPEAKER_00]: Come then and having exhausted the parma, let us see what the done lock with the patched cover has to offer us.

[SPEAKER_00]: We picked up the track and followed it on with for some distance, but soon the more rows into a long, Heather tuffed curve and we left the water course behind us.

[SPEAKER_00]: No further help from tracks could be hoped for.

[SPEAKER_00]: At the spot where we saw the last of the Dunlop Tire, it might equally have led to Holdeness Hall, the stately towers of which rose some miles to our left, or to a low grave village which lay in front of us, and marked the position of the Chesterfield High Road.

[SPEAKER_00]: As we approached the forbidding and squalid in, with the sign of a game cock above the door, Holmes gave a sudden groan, and clutched me by the shoulder to save himself from falling.

[SPEAKER_00]: He had had one of those violent strains of the ankle which leave a man helpless.

[SPEAKER_00]: With difficulty, he limped up to the door, where a squat, dark, elderly man was smoking a black clay pipe.

[SPEAKER_00]: How are you Mr.

Ruben Hayes?

[SPEAKER_00]: Said Holmes.

[SPEAKER_00]: Who are you?

[SPEAKER_00]: And how do you get my name so pat?

[SPEAKER_00]: The countryman answered, [SPEAKER_00]: Well, it's printed on the board above your head.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's easy to see a man who is master of his own house.

[SPEAKER_00]: I suppose you haven't such a thing as a carriage in your stables.

[SPEAKER_00]: No, I have not.

[SPEAKER_00]: I can hardly put my foot to the ground.

[SPEAKER_00]: Don't put it to the ground.

[SPEAKER_00]: Well, then hop.

[SPEAKER_00]: Mr.

Ruben Hayes' manner was far from gracious, but Holmes took it with admirable good humor.

[SPEAKER_00]: Look here, my man said he, this is really rather an awkward fix for me.

[SPEAKER_00]: I don't mind how I get on.

[SPEAKER_00]: Neither do I, said the Maro's landlord, [SPEAKER_00]: But the matter is very important, I would offer you a sovereign for the use of a bicycle.

[SPEAKER_00]: The landlord pricked up his ears.

[SPEAKER_00]: Where do you want to go?

[SPEAKER_00]: To hold anus hall.

[SPEAKER_00]: Pals of the Duke I suppose, said the landlord, surveying our mud-stained garments with iron [SPEAKER_00]: homes laughed good naturally.

[SPEAKER_00]: He'll be glad to see us anyhow.

[SPEAKER_00]: Why?

[SPEAKER_00]: Because we bring him news of his lost son.

[SPEAKER_00]: The landlord gave a very visible start.

[SPEAKER_00]: What you're on [SPEAKER_00]: He's been heard of in Liverpool.

[SPEAKER_00]: They expect to get him every hour.

[SPEAKER_00]: Again a swift change passed over the heavy unshaven face.

[SPEAKER_00]: His manner was suddenly genial.

[SPEAKER_00]: I've less reason to wish the Duke well than most men.

[SPEAKER_00]: Said he, for I was head coachman once, and cruel bad he treated me.

[SPEAKER_00]: It was him that sacked me without a character on the word of a lying corn chantler, but I'm glad to hear that the young Lord was heard of in Liverpool, and I'll help you to take the news to the hall.

[SPEAKER_00]: Thank you.

[SPEAKER_00]: Said Holmes, we'll have some food first.

[SPEAKER_00]: Then you can bring round the bicycle.

[SPEAKER_00]: I haven't got a bicycle.

[SPEAKER_00]: Holmes held up a sovereign.

[SPEAKER_00]: I tell you, man, that I haven't got one.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'll let you have two horses as far as the hall.

[SPEAKER_00]: Well, well, said Holmes.

[SPEAKER_00]: We'll talk about it when we've had something to eat.

[SPEAKER_00]: When we were left alone in the stone flag kitchen, it was astonishing how rapidly that sprained ankle recovered.

[SPEAKER_00]: It was nearly nightfall, and we had eaten nothing since early morning, so that we spent some time over our meal.

[SPEAKER_00]: Homes was lost in thought, and once or twice he walked over to the window instead earnestly out.

[SPEAKER_00]: It opened onto a squalid courtyard.

[SPEAKER_00]: In the Far Corner was a smithy, where a grimy lad was at work.

[SPEAKER_00]: On the other side were the stables.

[SPEAKER_00]: Holmes had sat down again after one of these excursions, when he suddenly sprang out of his chair with a loud exclamation.

[SPEAKER_00]: By heaven what's and I believe that I've got it, he cried, yes yes it must be so.

[SPEAKER_00]: What's and do you remember seeing any cow tracks today?

[SPEAKER_00]: Yes, several.

[SPEAKER_00]: Where?

[SPEAKER_00]: Well, everywhere.

[SPEAKER_00]: they were at the Morris, and again on the path, and again near where poor Heidegger met his death.

[SPEAKER_00]: Exactly.

[SPEAKER_00]: Well, now Watson, how many cows did you see on the more?

[SPEAKER_00]: I don't remember seeing any.

[SPEAKER_00]: Strange what's in that we should see tracks all along our line but never a cow on the whole more.

[SPEAKER_00]: Very strange what's in there.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yes, it is strange.

[SPEAKER_00]: Now, what's in making effort throw your mind back?

[SPEAKER_00]: Can you see those tracks upon the path?

[SPEAKER_00]: Yes, I can.

[SPEAKER_00]: Can you recall that the tracks were sometimes like that Watson?

[SPEAKER_00]: He arranged a number of breadcrumbs in this fashion, and sometimes like this, and occasionally [SPEAKER_00]: can you remember that?

[SPEAKER_00]: No, I cannot.

[SPEAKER_00]: But I can.

[SPEAKER_00]: I could swear to it.

[SPEAKER_00]: However, we will go back at our leisure and verify it.

[SPEAKER_00]: What a blind beat lie have been, not to draw my conclusion.

[SPEAKER_00]: And what is your conclusion?

[SPEAKER_00]: Only that it is a remarkable cow which walks, canters and gallops, by George.

[SPEAKER_00]: Watson.

[SPEAKER_00]: It was no brain of a country publican that thought out such a blind as that.

[SPEAKER_00]: The coast seems to be clear, safe for that lad in the smithy.

[SPEAKER_00]: Let us slip out and see what we can see.

[SPEAKER_00]: There were two rough-haired, unkempt horses in the tumble-down stable.

[SPEAKER_00]: Homes raised the hind leg of one of them, and laughed aloud.

[SPEAKER_00]: Old shoes, but newly shot.

[SPEAKER_00]: Old shoes, but new nails.

[SPEAKER_00]: This case deserves to be a classic.

[SPEAKER_00]: Let us go across to the smithy.

[SPEAKER_00]: The lad continued his work without regarding us.

[SPEAKER_00]: I saw Homes' eye darting to right and left among the litter of iron and wood, which was scattered about the floor.

[SPEAKER_00]: Suddenly, however, we heard a step behind us and there was the landlord, his heavy eyebrows drawn over his savage eyes, his swore the features convulsed with passion.

[SPEAKER_00]: He held a short, metal-headed stick in his hand, and he advanced in so menacing a fashion that I was right glad to feel the revolver in my pocket.

[SPEAKER_00]: Why Mr.

Ruben Hayes said homes coolly.

[SPEAKER_00]: One might think that you were afraid of our finding something out.

[SPEAKER_00]: The man mastered himself with a violent effort and his grim mouth loosened into a false laugh which was more menacing than his frown.

[SPEAKER_00]: Your welcome to all you can find out in my smithy, said he.

[SPEAKER_00]: But look here, Mr.

[SPEAKER_00]: I don't care for folk poking about my place without my leave, so the sooner you pay your score and get out of this, the better I shall be pleased.

[SPEAKER_00]: All right, Mr.

Hayes, no harm meant, said Holmes.

[SPEAKER_00]: We have been having a look at your horses, but I think I'll walk after all.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's not far, I believe.

[SPEAKER_00]: not more than two miles to the hall gates.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's the road to the left.

[SPEAKER_00]: He watched us with solid eyes until we had left his premises.

[SPEAKER_00]: We did not go very far along the road for homesop the instant that the curve hidders from the landlord's view.

[SPEAKER_00]: We were warm as the children say at that in, said he, I seem to grow colder every step that I take away from it.

[SPEAKER_00]: No, no, I can't possibly leave it.

[SPEAKER_00]: I am convinced to said I that this Ruben Hayes knows all about it.

[SPEAKER_00]: A more self-evident villain I never saw.

[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, he impressed you in that way, did he?

[SPEAKER_00]: There are the horses, there is the smithy.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yes, it is an interesting place this fighting cock.

[SPEAKER_00]: I think we shall have another look at it in an unobtrusive way.

[SPEAKER_00]: A long, sloping hillside dotted with gray limestone boulders stretched behind us.

[SPEAKER_00]: We had turned off the road, and were making our way up the hill, when looking in the direction of Holden's hall, I saw cyclists coming swiftly along.

[SPEAKER_00]: Get down Watson, cried homes with a heavy hand upon my shoulder.

[SPEAKER_00]: A mid-a-rolling cloud of dust, I caught a glimpse of a pale, agitated face, a face with horror in every liniament, the mouth opened the eyes staring wildly in front.

[SPEAKER_00]: It was like some strange caricature of the Dapper James Wilder whom we had seen the night before.

[SPEAKER_00]: The Duke Secretary cried homes, come what's and let us see what he does.

[SPEAKER_00]: We scrambled from rock to rock until in a few moments we had made our way to a point from which we could see the front door of the inn.

[SPEAKER_00]: Wild as bicycle was leaning against the wall beside it.

[SPEAKER_00]: No one was moving about the house nor could we catch a glimpse of any faces at the windows.

[SPEAKER_00]: Slowly, the twilight crept down as the sun sank behind the high towers of Holdenis Hall.

[SPEAKER_00]: Then, in the gloom, we saw the two side lamps of a trap light up in the stable yard of the inn, and shortly afterwards heard the rattle of hooves as it wheeled out into the road, and tore off at a furious pace in the direction of Chesterfield.

[SPEAKER_00]: What do you make of that Watson Holmes whispered?

[SPEAKER_00]: It looks like a flight.

[SPEAKER_00]: A single man in a dog cart so far as I could see, [SPEAKER_00]: Well, it certainly was not Mr.

James Wilder for there he is at the door.

[SPEAKER_00]: A red square of light had sprung out of the darkness.

[SPEAKER_00]: In the middle of it was the black figure of the secretary.

[SPEAKER_00]: His head advanced, peering out into the night.

[SPEAKER_00]: It was evident that he was expecting someone.

[SPEAKER_00]: Then, at last, there were steps in the road.

[SPEAKER_00]: A second figure was visible for an instant against the light, the door shut, and all was black once more.

[SPEAKER_00]: Five minutes later, a lamp was lit in a room upon the first floor.

[SPEAKER_00]: It seems to be a curious class of custom that is done by the fighting cock, said homes.

[SPEAKER_00]: The bar is on the other side.

[SPEAKER_00]: quite so.

[SPEAKER_00]: These are what one may call the private guests.

[SPEAKER_00]: Now what in the world is Mr.

James Wilder doing in that den at this hour of night, and who is the companion who comes to meet him there?

[SPEAKER_00]: Come, Watson, we must really take a risk and try to investigate this a little more closely.

[SPEAKER_00]: Together we stole down to the road and crept across to the door of the inn.

[SPEAKER_00]: Holmes struck a match and held it to the back wheel, and I heard him chuckle, as the light fell upon a patched Dunlop tyre.

[SPEAKER_00]: Upper Bubvus was the lighted window.

[SPEAKER_00]: I must have a peep through that Watson.

[SPEAKER_00]: If you bend your back and support yourself upon the wall, I think that I can manage [SPEAKER_00]: An instant later, his feet were on my shoulders, but he was hardly up before he was down again.

[SPEAKER_00]: Come my friend, said he.

[SPEAKER_00]: Our days work has been quite long enough.

[SPEAKER_00]: I think that we have gathered all that we can.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's a long walk to the school, and the sooner we get started, the better.

[SPEAKER_00]: He hardly opened his lips during that weary trudge across the moor, nor would he enter the school when he reached it, but went on to Mcleton Station, when he could send some telegrams.

[SPEAKER_00]: Later at night I heard him consoling Dr.

Huxtable prostrated by the tragedy of his master's death, and later still he entered my room as alert and vigorous as he had been when he started in the morning.

[SPEAKER_00]: All goes well, my friend, said he.

[SPEAKER_00]: I promised that before tomorrow evening we shall have reached the solution of the mystery.

[UNKNOWN]: Thank you.

[UNKNOWN]: Thank you.

[UNKNOWN]: you [UNKNOWN]: Thank you very much.

[UNKNOWN]: Thank you.