For an instant I could hardly believe that here was indeed a doorwhich led away from death. The next instant I threw myselfthrough, and lay half-fainting upon the other side. The panelhad closed again behind me, but the crash of the lamp, and a fewmoments afterwards the clang of the two slabs of metal, told mehow narrow had been my escape.
“I was recalled to myself by a frantic plucking at my wrist, and Ifound myself lying upon the stone floor of a narrow corridor, whilea woman bent over me and tugged at me with her left hand, whileshe held a candle in her right. It was the same good friend whosewarning I had so foolishly rejected.
“ ‘Come! come!’ she cried breathlessly. ‘They will be here in amoment. They will see that you are not there. Oh, do not wastethe so-precious time, but come!’
“This time, at least, I did not scorn her advice. I staggered tomy feet and ran with her along the corridor and down a windingstair. The latter led to another broad passage, and just as wereached it we heard the sound of running feet and the shoutingof two voices, one answering the other from the floor on whichwe were and from the one beneath. My guide stopped and lookedabout her like one who is at her wit’s end. Then she threw open adoor which led into a bedroom, through the window of which themoon was shining brightly.
“ ‘It is your only chance,’ said she. ‘It is high, but it may be thatyou can jump it.’
“As she spoke a light sprang into view at the further end ofthe passage, and I saw the lean figure of Colonel Lysander Starkrushing forward with a lantern in one hand and a weapon likea butcher’s cleaver in the other. I rushed across the bedroom,flung open the window, and looked out. How quiet and sweet andwholesome the garden looked in the moonlight, and it could notbe more than thirty feet down. I clambered out upon the sill, butI hesitated to jump until I should have heard what passed betweenmy saviour and the ruffian who pursued me. If she were ill-used,then at any risks I was determined to go back to her assistance.
The thought had hardly flashed through my mind before he was atthe door, pushing his way past her; but she threw her arms roundhim and tried to hold him back.
“ ‘Fritz! Fritz!’ she cried in English, ‘remember your promiseafter the last time. You said it should not be again. He will besilent! Oh, he will be silent!’
“ ‘You are mad, Elise!’ he shouted, struggling to break away fromher. ‘You will be the ruin of us. He has seen too much. Let me pass,I say!’ He dashed her to one side, and, rushing to the window, cutat me with his heavy weapon. I had let myself go, and was hangingby the hands to the sill, when his blow fell. I was conscious of adull pain, my grip loosened, and I fell into the garden below.
“I was shaken but not hurt by the fall; so I picked myself upand rushed off among the bushes as hard as I could run, for Iunderstood that I was far from being out of danger yet. Suddenly,however, as I ran, a deadly dizziness and sickness came over me.
I glanced down at my hand, which was throbbing painfully, andthen, for the first time, saw that my thumb had been cut off andthat the blood was pouring from my wound. I endeavoured to tiemy handkerchief round it, but there came a sudden buzzing inmy ears, and next moment I fell in a dead faint among the rosebushes.
“How long I remained unconscious I cannot tell. It musthave been a very long time, for the moon had sunk, and a brightmorning was breaking when I came to myself. My clothes wereall sodden with dew, and my coat-sleeve was drenched with bloodfrom my wounded thumb. The smarting of it recalled in an instantall the particulars of my night’s adventure, and I sprang to my feetwith the feeling that I might hardly yet be safe from my pursuers.
But to my astonishment, when I came to look round me, neitherhouse nor garden were to be seen. I had been lying in an angle ofthe hedge close by the highroad, and just a little lower down wasa long building, which proved, upon my approaching it, to be thevery station at which I had arrived upon the previous night. Wereit not for the ugly wound upon my hand, all that had passed duringthose dreadful hours might have been an evil dream.
“Half dazed, I went into the station and asked about themorning train. There would be one to Reading in less than anhour. The same porter was on duty, I found, as had been therewhen I arrived. I inquired of him whether he had ever heard ofColonel Lysander Stark. The name was strange to him. Had heobserved a carriage the night before waiting for me? No, he hadnot. Was there a police-station anywhere near? There was oneabout three miles off.
“It was too far for me to go, weak and ill as I was. I determinedto wait until I got back to town before telling my story to thepolice. It was a little past six when I arrived, so I went first to havemy wound dressed, and then the doctor was kind enough to bringme along here. I put the case into your hands and shall do exactlywhat you advise.”
We both sat in silence for some little time after listening to thisextraordinary narrative. Then Sherlock Holmes pulled down fromthe shelf one of the ponderous commonplace books in which heplaced his cuttings.
“Here is an advertisement which will interest you,” said he. “Itappeared in all the papers about a year ago. Listen to this:
‘Lost, on the 9th inst., Mr. Jeremiah Hayling, aged twenty-six, ahydraulic engineer. Left his lodgings at ten o’clock at night, and hasnot been heard of since. Was dressed in—
etc., etc. Ha! That represents the last time that the colonel neededto have his machine overhauled, I fancy.”
“Good heavens!” cried my patient. “Then that explains what thegirl said.”
“Undoubtedly. It is quite clear that the colonel was a cool anddesperate man, who was absolutely determined that nothingshould stand in the way of his little game, like those out-and-outpirates who will leave no survivor from a captured ship. Well, everymoment now is precious, so if you feel equal to it we shall go downto Scotland Yard at once as a preliminary to starting for Eyford.”