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Page 27
"I fail to see what it was in our conversation, however," observed Hamlet,
somewhat impatient over the delay caused by the narration of this tale,
"that suggested this train of thought to you."
"The sequel will show," returned Holmes.
"Oh, Lord!" put in Raleigh. "Can't we put off the sequel until a later
issue? Remember, Mr. Holmes, that we are constantly losing time."
"The sequel is brief, and I can narrate it on our way to the office of the
Navigation Company," observed the detective. "When the bottle came I
invited Mr. Burgess to join us, which he did, and as the hour was late
when we came to separate, I offered him the use of my parlor overnight.
This he accepted, and we retired.
"The next morning when I arose to dress, the mystery was cleared."
"You had dreamed its solution?" asked Raleigh.
"No," replied Holmes. "Burgess had disappeared with all my clothing, my
false-beard, my suit-case, and my watch. The only thing he had left me was
the bathing-suit and a few empty small bottles."
"And why, may I ask," put in Hamlet, as they drew near to Charon's
office--"why does that case remind you of business as it is conducted
to-day?"
"In this, that it is a good thing to stay out of unless you know it all,"
explained Holmes. "I omitted in the case of Burgess to observe one thing
about him. Had I observed that his nose was rectilinear, incurved, and
with a lifted base, and that his auricular temporal angle was between 96
and 97 degrees, I should have known at once that he was an impostor.
_Vide_ Ottolenghui on 'Ears and Noses I Have Met,' pp. 631-640."
"Do you mean to say that you can tell a criminal by his ears?" demanded
Hamlet.
"If he has any--yes; but I did not know that at the time of the Brighton
mystery. Therefore I should have stayed out of the case. But here we are.
Good-morning, Charon."
By this time the trio had entered the private office of the president of
the Styx Navigation Company, and in a few moments the vessel was chartered
at a fabulous price.
On the return to the wharf, Sir Walter somewhat nervously asked Holmes if
he thought the plan they had settled upon would work.
"Charon is a very shrewd old fellow," said he. "He may outwit us yet."
"The chances are just two and one-eighth degrees in your favor," observed
Holmes, quietly, with a glance at Raleigh's ears. "The temporal angle of
your ears is 93-1/8 degrees, whereas Charon's stand out at 91, by my
otometer. To that extent your criminal instincts are superior to his. If
criminology is an exact science, reasoning by your respective ears, you
ought to beat him out by a perceptible though possibly narrow margin."
With which assurance Raleigh went ahead with his preparations, and within
twelve hours the _Gehenna_ was under way, carrying a full complement of
crew and officers, with every state-room on board occupied by some spirit
of the more illustrious kind.
Even Shylock was on board, though no one knew it, for in the dead of night
he had stolen quietly up the gang-plank and had hidden himself in an empty
water-cask in the forecastle.
[Illustration: "IN THE DEAD OF NIGHT SHYLOCK HAD STOLEN UP THE
GANG-PLANK"]
"'Tisn't Venice," he said, as he sat down and breathed heavily through the
bung of the barrel, "but it's musty and damp enough, and, considering the
cost, I can't complain. You can't get something for nothing, even in
Hades."
VIII
ON BOARD THE "GEHENNA"
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